States fund antiabortion advice

[n2doc]

States fund antiabortion advice
Public grants surge for the crisis centers. Some ban contraception talk.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
February 11, 2007


'It's reprehensible that taxpayer dollars are going to organizations that regularly and deliberately deceive women.'
— Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation

AUSTIN, TEXAS — austin, texas — In an experiment that's opening a new front in the culture wars, a growing number of states are paying antiabortion activists to counsel women with unplanned pregnancies.

At least eight states — including Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania — use public funds to subsidize crisis pregnancy centers, Christian homes for unwed mothers and other programs explicitly designed to steer women away from abortion. As a condition of the grants, counselors are often barred from referring women to any clinic that provides abortions; in some cases, they may not discuss contraception either.

Most states still spend far more money subsidizing comprehensive family planning, but the flow of tax dollars to antiabortion groups has surged in recent months, as programs have taken effect in Texas and Minnesota.

The trend alarms abortion-rights supporters, who assert that the funds would be better spent — and would prevent more abortions — if used to expand access to birth control. But to antiabortion activists such as Nancy McDonald, the funding is both practical and symbolic, a way of putting the state's stamp of approval on their work.

"It's a subtle thing," said McDonald, who runs five crisis pregnancy centers in South Florida. "But people seem to think if you're affiliated with the state, you must be good."

Here in Texas, the state reduced grants to a Planned Parenthood clinic in downtown Austin — and began sending some of the money to the Roman Catholic diocese a block away.

There, in a cozy office adorned with paintings of Jesus and Mary, counselors can collect $1.05 in public funds for every minute they spend encouraging women and teens not to abort. They show clients photos of a translucent fetus; they give away maternity clothes and baby blankets. Later this month, they will begin offering a statesubsidized one-hour class on infant care.

Tax dollars cannot be used for religious purposes, but federal law permits faith-based groups to participate in government programs and protects displays of religious symbols, such as the basket of plastic rosaries at the diocese's Gabriel Project Life Center.

Amy Chestnut coordinates the Gabriel Project now, but she was once a client, pregnant at 16. The lessons she got on abstinence — she was told to commit to a "secondary virginity" — didn't stick; she got pregnant again at 19.

But she said the emotional support she received from the counselors — simple acts such as rubbing her belly and talking about the baby with delight, not dismay — persuaded her to carry both pregnancies. Chestnut, 25, has since married the man who fathered both children; she keeps a family photo with her to show clients that even unwanted pregnancies can bring joy.

"People were always assuming that I'd have an abortion. To hear just one person say 'You can do this' made such a difference," Chestnut said.

Crisis pregnancy centers have received tens of millions of dollars from the federal government over the last six years, mostly for abstinence education.

On the state level, Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas approved funding in 2005. Louisiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania have longer-running programs. Arizona and Kansas have offered one-time grants to antiabortion groups; several other states fund abortion alternatives from sales of "Choose Life" license plates.

All told, states will spend at least $13 million this year — much of it from welfare or family-planning budgets — to dissuade women from abortion.

In a related campaign, conservatives in several states are pushing to restrict or eliminate public funding for groups that support abortion rights, especially Planned Parenthood. They've had some success, notably in Missouri; six other legislatures will take up the issue this year.

more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abortion11feb11,0,1239743.story

[yourout]

1. Government money going to churches is WRONG on so many fronts.

It makes my blood boil. Our founding fathers would be furious if they could see the way Bushco has subverted the citizens of the USA.

[blogslut]

2. Those clinics do mislead

Pregnant? Alone? We can help. We will help you by scaring the shit out of you with pictures of aborted fetuses and made-up "facts" about abortion.

Thanks for reminding me that it's time to donate to Planned Parenthood again.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/