Fact Sheet: Pregnancy Help Centers – Serving Women and Saving Lives

To view as PDF, please see: Fact Sheet: Pregnancy Help Centers – Serving Women and Saving Lives

Last updated: January 17, 2018.

WHAT ARE THEY?  

Pregnancy help centers (formerly known as crisis pregnancy centers and also as pregnancy care or resource centers) provide support services, medical care and resources to women facing difficult or unexpected pregnancy to assist with their immediate and ongoing needs. Care is provided within a respectful, compassionate, and supportive environment to empower a woman to welcome her child into the world. They do not offer or refer women for abortions.

WHAT DO THEY DO? 

Provide vital, highly valued services to vulnerable women and youth on a free or low-cost basis including: pregnancy testing; medical services (ultrasound, medical exams, prenatal care, STD testing and treatment, to name a few); education on all options including parenting, adoption and abortion; prenatal development and parenting education; material assistance; sexual risk avoidance education; after abortion recovery support; referrals for medical care; and linkages to vital community and public health resources.

By providing practical assistance and links to needed resources, PHCs help women to avert adverse health outcomes and promote health and well-being for themselves, their children, and their families.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT?[1] 

Data from 2010 shows that pregnancy help centers served more than 2 million people, with estimated community cost savings of more than $100 million.

2016 Preliminary Data

2,752 center locations

Six in 10 locations (or 1,661) offer Free Ultrasounds (up 10 percent since 2010[2])

248,832 Free Ultrasounds Performed (up 10 percent from 2010[3])

577 Locations offer STD Testing, 400 Locations offer STD treatment onsite (up from 260 centers offering such services in 2010)

100 Mobile Units with Ultrasound rolling on the road to bring services to women out in the community

30,000 calls per month to Heartbeat International’s Option Line hotline

81,630 Volunteers (up 15 percent from 2010 figure of 71,000 volunteers; nine out of 10 center workers are volunteers)

6.5 Million Volunteer Hours (up from 5.7 million in 2010)

Exceptional Client Satisfaction – One national network of over 1,000 affiliated pregnancy centers, Care Net, has published client satisfaction data reflecting the following client satisfaction rate: 98.7 percent in 2013, and 97 percent in both 2014 and 2015. The network noted the “satisfaction rating is higher than that of Netflix, Chipotle, and the iPhone.”

WHO VALUES PREGNANCY CENTER WORK?

Federal and state governments recognize and value pregnancy help center contributions.

State health departments actively refer to pregnancy care centers in at least 20 states.[4]

State level resolutions honoring pregnancy centers have been passed in 18 states.[5]

Centers are recipients of some public monies through “Choose Life” license plates, State TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds in 11 states, and abstinence grant monies – but at least 90 percent of funding for pregnancy centers is raised locally at the community level and 80 percent of centers receive no public funding at all.

UNDER ATTACK

The United States Supreme Court is currently hearing a case about a 2015 California law, AB-775, dubbed the Reproductive “FACT” Act, which forces life-affirming pregnancy centers to display information, including a phone number, on how women can obtain a free or low-cost abortion.  The law effectively mandates that pregnancy care centers advertise for abortion providers or else incur monetary penalties. The name of the case is NIFLA (National Institute of Family and Life Advocates) v. Becerra. The Charlotte Lozier in its “Friend of the Court brief” has stated, “Forcing pregnancy help centers to refer for abortion undermines their mission and threatens their existence with a never-before-recognized state interest in promoting the destruction of innocent human life.” Similar laws in Maryland, New York and Texas have been found unconstitutional at the federal court level. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision regarding this harmful law is critically important to protecting the life-saving work and ministry of pregnancy help centers, fending off similar future legislative attacks on conscience, and upholding broad free speech protections.

SUMMARY

Pregnancy help centers are model community-based, faith-based organizations (ecumenical in nature) serving women, youth, and families with excellence and compassion in every type of community (rural, urban, suburban, college settings) across the country. Pregnancy help centers are a shining example of how “Love Saves Lives” and stand on their strong record of care.

Read more at https://lozierinstitute.org/pro-life-groups-file-brief-in-pregnancy-help-centers-conscience-case/

[1] Brief of Amici Curiae March for Life Education Fund, Charlotte Lozier Institute, National Pro-Life Women’s Caucus of the Susan B. Anthony List, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, filed January 12, 2018 with the U.S. Supreme Court.  See also Hobbs, J., “10 Numbers You Should Know about Pregnancy Centers,” LifeNews.com (December 21, 2017); at http://www.lifenews.com/2017/12/21/10-numbers-you-should-know-about-pregnancy-centers/

[2] Ibid., p. 8.

[3] Ibid., p. 5.

[4] Ibid., p. 20ff.

[5] Ibid., p. 25-26.