Pro-life Pregnancy Centers Served 2 Million People, Saved Communities $161M in 2017

New Report Highlights Enormous Contributions of Pregnancy Centers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 5, 2018
Contact: Nicole Stacy, [email protected], 202-223-8073

Washington, D.C.  – Today Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), released the findings of a robust survey of approximately 2,600 pregnancy centers (affiliated with national networks and/or smaller parent organizations) in the United States to calculate their extraordinary social service contributions.

The 2018 report, A Half Century of Hope, a Legacy of Life and Love, is based on national survey data provided by major pregnancy center networks (Care Net, Heartbeat International, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates) and a host of smaller networks. Prepared by CLI Associate Scholars Moira Gaul and Mai Bean, it features an historical overview of pregnancy help centers by SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser and Moira Gaul, facts about the centers, data about their service delivery and cost savings to taxpayers, and compelling stories of individuals and families the centers have helped.

Key findings in the new report include:

• In 2017, pregnancy centers provided almost 2,000,000 people with free services, with estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million annually.
• 2,752 center locations nationwide provide vital services including medical services, parenting programs, and sexual risk avoidance education.
• More than seven in 10 locations offer free ultrasounds (up 24 percent since 2010).
• 400,100 hours of free services were contributed by credentialed nurse sonographers and registered diagnostic medical sonographers in 2017.
• 100 mobile units with ultrasound are on the road to bring services to women out in the community.
• 30,000 contacts per month reach Heartbeat International’s Option Line hotline and email/chat lines.
• 67,400 volunteers serve pregnancy centers, including an estimated 7,500 medical professionals who freely give of their time and skills.
• Centers carried out 679,600 free pregnancy tests in 2017.
• 295,900 moms and dads attended parenting courses.
• 24,100 after-abortion support clients were seen in 2017 (services include support, counseling, and referral to professional help when appropriate for both women and men).
• More than 1 million students attended community-based sexual risk avoidance education presentations in 2017.

CLI’s prior research reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans, regardless of whether they self-identify as “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” consider pregnancy centers a valuable community resource. Post-visit surveys indicate centers have extraordinarily high rates of client satisfaction.

“Pregnancy centers exist to serve and support mothers in the courageous decision to give their children life, even under the most difficult circumstances,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. “This report calculates the impact of their mission of love in concrete terms. Thousands of centers around the country provide a multitude of free services for millions of women, as well as tens of thousands of men, saving communities nearly $161 million annually. Nine in 10 people involved at pregnancy centers are volunteers, including an estimated 7,500 medical professionals. Beyond numbers like these is the incalculable value of lives saved, families strengthened, and women and men finding healing from the trauma of abortion. We are grateful for the cooperation of pregnancy centers’ nationwide networks and hope this report is an illuminating tool for them, for policymakers, and for their communities.”

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women.

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