Resolution supporting pregnancy care centers moves through the statehouse

A resolution strongly supporting the work of Indiana’s pregnancy care centers is moving through the state legislature.

Some health experts worry it further legitimizes these centers, which they say provide misleading information to vulnerable patients.

Pregnancy care centers, sometimes also known as crisis pregnancy centers, counsel pregnant women against abortion. They may also provide limited services such as an ultrasound. Health experts say these centers aren’t subjected to the same kinds of licensing and reporting requirements as health centers.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 24 commends the work of volunteers and staff at pregnancy care centers and calls on federal and state agencies to grant the centers assistance for medical equipment and abstinence-only education. SCR 24, which is nonbinding and doesn’t change state law, also opposes the actions of any groups to limit “pregnancy care centers from effectively serving women and men facing unplanned pregnancies.”

Across the state, there are nearly 100 pregnancy care centers, according to the Crisis Pregnancy Center Map.

Indiana directs some funds to these centers, but many medical groups say the centers rely on misinformation. 

Amy Caldwell, an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Indiana University’s School of Medicine, was the sole person to testify on the resolution. She said patients of these centers may think they are receiving medical care but often are not.

“These are non-medical facilities that are not staffed by necessarily licensed practitioners,” Caldwell said. “If and when there are licensed practitioners doing work there, it is not under any formal medical capacity.”

In response to concerns raised during the hearing, Sen. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond), who introduced the resolution, said they were “largely subjective.”

“These pregnancy centers are designed as essentially as volunteers to help young ladies make decisions,” he said.

But groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have raised concerns about the quality of health care advice offered at pregnancy care centers saying they “unethically” provide “debunked” misinformation about the risks of abortion.

Workers at these pregnancy care centers often do not have to abide by HIPAA, a federal law protecting against the disclosure of private patient information. It’s a regulatory blind spot that federal officials have been reluctant to address.

“I can attest to this, having had patients present to care who have had their spouses or friends contacted by these centers to harass them into making certain decisions about their pregnancy,” Caldwell said.

Pregnancy centers advocate against abortion but some of them do provide support, either in the form of housing after a baby has been born or in assistance applying to Medicaid.

However, advocates say many people entering these centers seeking an abortion may be unaware that the center not only cannot provide such care but actively advocates against it. Several states have passed laws requiring pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion or notify patients that they are not state-licensed.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against one of those measures in California, saying that requiring centers to provide abortion information violated free speech.

Experts also worry about the amount of money flowing from the state in support of pregnancy care centers.

Tracey Wilkinson is with the Indiana-based public health advocacy group Good Trouble Coalition.  She said the centers should have more oversight and worries the resolution further legitimizes them.

“These words in our legislative record are dangerous, and the millions of dollars that are going towards these organizations are unchecked money,” she said.

A 2022 report found that since 2010, Indiana had allocated roughly $18 million toward these pregnancy care centers.

This year, a state appropriations bill could set aside $4 million for Real Alternatives, an organization that operates several pregnancy care centers in Indiana.

Sen. J.D. Ford (D-Indianapolis) repeatedly questioned Raatz during the hearing, trying to push the senator on the quality of medical care at the pregnancy care centers.

“Are technicians [at the pregnancy centers] licensed by the state of Indiana?” he asked.

“I’m not telling you they are licensed, I’m telling you they know what they are doing,” Raatz responded.

Contact Side Effects Public Media’s Health Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org.