Massachusetts Wages Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Against Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Massachusetts Democrats have launched a tax-payer funded campaign attacking pro-life pregnancy centers and promoting the killing of unborn babies via abortion. 

“The troubling practices of anti-abortion centers serve to undermine the trust that people should have in our health care system,” Lieutenant Gov. Kim Driscoll claimed in a June 10 statement. “Education and accurate information can help counter the misinformation and unethical tactics these centers use to prey on people at a particularly vulnerable time.”  

The campaign, is the “first-in-the-nation public education campaign” against pro-life pregnancy centers, according to the announcement, and highlights the supposed “dangers and potential harm” of them. The campaign is funded through $1 million from the state’s FY2023 supplemental budget and includes ads attacking pro-life pregnancy centers that will appear on social media, billboards, radio, and transit.

The campaign was created thought a partnership between Massachusetts Department of Health and the pro-abortion group Reproductive Equity Now Foundation. 

The campaign directs people the mass.gov/GetTrustedCare which states at the top of the page to “Avoid Anti-Abortion Centers,” includes a complaint portal, and a lists of clinics that offer “comprehensive” services, including abortion. 

Massachusetts Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein, accused pro-life clinics in statement of “masquerading as comprehensive medical providers.”

“Every day, individuals in the Commonwealth walk into anti-abortion centers unaware that these facilities are masquerading as comprehensive medical providers and pose a significant risk to the health and well-being of those seeking help, support, and options,” Goldstein said. “As a physician, I find this kind of deception and misrepresentation unconscionable, and as Commissioner, I feel compelled to push back as hard as possible against these shameful practices and blatant misinformation.”  

The announcement notes that pro-life pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics “more than two to one.” 

It should be emphasized that crisis pregnancy centers — instead of abortion — offer support for pregnant women in need who choose life for their unborn child and often explicitly say on their websites that they do not offer or refer for abortions. They also often offer help after the baby is born.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute conducted a study of 2,700 pregnancy help centers nationwide in 2020 and found that in 2019, these U.S. clinics “served roughly two million women, men, and youth with services estimated at a value of over $266 million. This outreach was accomplished through 14,977 total staff and 53,855 total volunteers, of which over 10,200 were licensed medical professionals (3,791 as staff and 6,424 as volunteers).”

The report details:

Medical services were provided by an increasing number of centers since last counted in 2017 [13] with: free obstetrical ultrasound services provided at 2,132 centers (79 percent), STD/STI Testing provided at 810 centers (30 percent), and STD/STI Treatment provided at 563 centers (21 percent). [14] In addition, 486,213 pregnancy confirmation ultrasounds, 731,884 pregnancy tests, 160,201 STI tests, and 967,251 consultations with new (unique) clients were all provided at little or no cost. [15]

…

PHCs were shown to be rich resources for support and education to improve maternal, child, youth and family health all at no cost, including: Prenatal and Parenting Classes at 2,312 centers (86 percent), Childbirth Classes at 742 centers (27 percent), Breastfeeding Consultations at 518 centers (19 percent), After-Abortion Support and Recovery at 1,931 centers (72 percent), Fertility Awareness-Based Methods at 188 centers (7 percent), Sexual Risk Avoidance Education Presentations to youth through 979 centers (36 percent).

PHCs also widely provided Material Item Services at 2,525 centers (94 percent). These items included: 1,290,079 packs of diapers, 689,382 packs of wipes, 30,445 new car seats, 2,033,513 baby clothing outfits, and 19,249 strollers.

The study also found these clinics report high client satisfaction (99 percent, on average per center), and are estimated to have saved 886,125 unborn lives since 2008.

Pregnancy Care Alliance of Massachusetts reported serving 4,084 clients in 2023, offering 1,725 pregnancy tests, 1,371 ultrasounds, and $512,400 worth of food, diapers, clothing and supplies free of charge. The organization estimated $1.5 million saved by the communities they serve. 

Pregnancy Care Alliance has launched a launched a petition to protect pregnancy resource centers, which they plan to send to the state House on June 25, according to the petition page. 

“The women of Massachusetts deserve every opportunity to exercise choice when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. Pregnancy resource centers can present this choice through cost-free services, medical care, material goods and counseling, in addition to compassion, support and varied options for housing assistance and job training that no abortion provider offers,” the petition reads in part.

“We demand that all state efforts to undermine PRCs cease immediately. Additionally, we request that a rectifying statement be issued to Massachusetts residents, who, because of the state’s unwarranted attacks, have formed grave misperceptions of PRCs,” it continues.

 According to Fox News, a bill before the Massachusetts legislature would slap pregnancy resource centers with fines up to $1,000 at the discretion of the attorney general for making supposedly “deceptive statements” about their services.

“This bill engages in blatant viewpoint discrimination. It targets the speech of pro-life PRCs while allowing free rein to abortion clinics,” the conservative nonprofit Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) said in a memo. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.