Florida’s Department of Health suggested cutting state funding to crisis pregnancy centers, among other services, to state legislators during a committee meeting last week.
As health care services in Florida face deeper cuts to their state funding, a network of crisis pregnancy centers has continued to maintain its $2 million in annual state funding, despite serving fewer patients and offering fewer services than either Planned Parenthood or Healthy Start.
Health services for low-income women and children in Florida took a big hit this year. Millions of dollars that once went to things like prenatal care and family planning services have been slashed in an effort to reduce state spending. Gov. Rick Scott called a handful of new health care projects “special interest waste.” One of the more controversial special interest projects of this Legislature, its network of crisis pregnancy centers, has not lost a dime in state funding since starting up in 2005.
Care Net, a network of more than 1,100 pregnancy centers across North America, released a statement earlier this week in response to a video posted on YouTube by pro-abortion rights group NARAL New York.
NARAL’s video highlights some of the controversies surrounding crisis pregnancy centers around the country. The video advocates a municipal-level push to provide women with information about what services crisis pregnancy centers actually provide. Care Net claims that the video exposes NARAL’s “national strategy” aimed at “shutting down these centers and directing women to abortion providers.”
As the Florida House and Senate discussed their budget proposals yesterday, Democrats in both houses introduced amendments that would have cut funding for so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel women against abortions, into family planning services provided by country health departments.
While the Florida Department of Health declines to answer questions about oversight of state-funded anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law last week a bill to require similar centers there to disclose information about their practices to patients.
Responding to news that Gov. Rick Scott’s budget maintains taxpayer funding for the state’s controversial crisis pregnancy network and that the centers have the vocal support of at least two of her colleagues, state Rep. Elaine Schwartz, D-Hollywood, yesterday called the Florida Pregnancy Support Services Program part of the legislature’s “war against women,” warning, “We’re going back to the Middle Ages.”
State Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, is not the only House member who vocally supports Florida’s controversial taxpayer-funded crisis pregnancy center network. State Rep. Rachel Burgin, R-Riverview, serves as an “advocate” for the Pregnancy Care Center of Plant City, which receives state dollars.
Since Gov. Rick Scott unveiled his 2011-2012 budget proposal last month, questions have swirled about what his recommendations might mean for particular state programs. According to state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, one controversial program — which provides taxpayer dollars to crisis pregnancy centers that have been found to disseminate disputed information about abortion — lives on in Scott’s budget.
The Archdiocese of Miami defines Respect Life as a “ministry,” one that is “faithful to the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.”
The Florida Independent has found that Respect Life coordinates five crisis pregnancy centers…
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