Planned Parenthood and Repro Rights Advocates Present Budget Priorities for Health Care Access
For Immediate Release: April 11, 2023 (Updated: April 11, 2023, noon)
(Harrisburg, Pa.) --- Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates and other reproductive health care advocates spoke out today before the PA Department of Human Services budget hearing to present priorities that would improve access to abortion and the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care.
The 2023-24 budget proposal that the Appropriations Committee will be reviewing today for DHS includes more than $6 million in public funding for “crisis pregnancy centers” – often religiously affiliated counseling centers that mislead patients and provide no medical care.
Of that, $1 million is allocated from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families line item. In Pennsylvania, only one in four eligible families receive TANF help, and that $1 million that goes to CPCs could support an additional 3,000 children in Pennsylvania this year.
“CPCs prey on pregnant people, particularly those in the many counties of this state that don’t have an abortion provider,” said Signe Espinoza, Executive Director of PPPA. “Their deceptive practices often delay patients to the point where abortion becomes inaccessible in Pennsylvania; they provide no pre-natal care; and they often force a religious agenda on the people who walk through their doors. These centers should receive state investigation, not a $6 million handout.”
CPCs have been known to promote medical disinformation, anti-LGBT programs, and discourage the use of contraceptives. They often mislead pregnant people about gestational age to make abortion care more difficult.
These counseling centers, which are often religiously affiliated, outnumber real medical clinics by 9 to 1 and have received millions of dollars in state funding every year for their deceptive practices. Planned Parenthood clinics, which receive no direct state funding, provide real medical care, contraceptives, health care screenings, and the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care.
“Why do anti-abortion executives obtain welfare funds that children in poverty are denied in Pennsylvania? Why does Pennsylvania government siphon money from an already-inadequate safety-net fund to finance an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center scheme designed to target the same population with medical disinformation and experimental treatments?” asked Tara Murtha, Director of Strategic Communications, Women's Law Project. “Three out of four Pennsylvanians who qualify for TANF are denied it, yet 100% of six-figure anti-abortion executives willing to take those funds get it. TANF is not meant to be a slush fund for special interests. This grave injustice has been perpetuated by Pennsylvania for decades, and we demand it ends now.”
For more information on PPPA and access to abortion care in Pennsylvania, please visit our website.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brittany Crampsie, 717 712 3480
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ABOUT PLANNED PARENTHOOD PENNSYLVANIA ADVOCATES
Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates (PPPA) exists to create a Pennsylvania where sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is accessible, affordable, and affirming for all. We achieve this, in partnership with the 3 Planned Parenthood affiliates in Pennsylvania, through electoral and advocacy campaigns, lobbying, and organizing.