CPCs again receive $2 million in state House budget

The Florida House of Representatives yesterday passed a budget allocating $2 million, yet again, to the state’s crisis pregnancy center network. The centers continue to not lose a dime of funding even as other health services suffer cuts.

A line item in the House General Appropriations Act (.pdf) show that “crisis counseling” is receiving $2 million, once more, from the the state’s general revenue fund.

Crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, are mostly religious centers aimed at dissuading women from having an abortion. Some Florida centers were even found to distribute inaccurate information about abortion to women seeking help.

These centers have not lost a dime of state funding in the past six years, while other health services have suffered deep cuts  as the state’s economic woes continue. In the House budget that was just approved, the Florida Department of Health received an overall budget “decrease of $80.4 million (2.82 percent) from the 2011-12 fiscal year appropriation,” according to the House Office of Public Information.

Last October, the Department of Health suggested cutting some state funding to the CPCs during a committee meeting before the legislative session started. The state is facing yet another budget shortfall, and all departments had to present areas that could possibly be cut.

Florida lawmakers have shown a special interest in CPCs. This year the state Senate approved a resolution that made January 2012 ”Pregnancy Resource Center Month.”