US states take control of abortion debate with funding focus

Feb 4, 2023, 8:08 AM | Updated: Feb 6, 2023, 10:36 am
Bridgit Smith, executive director of the Insight Women's Center stands outside the door to its educ...

Bridgit Smith, executive director of the Insight Women's Center stands outside the door to its educational and "Boutique" with clothes and other supplies for new parents, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kansas. The center provides a variety of free services, including pregnancy tests, limited sonograms, and parenting and money-management counseling. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

(AP Photo/John Hanna)

              Bridgit Smith, executive director of the Insight Women's Center, holds a "Baby Buck," which its clients can earn for participating in classes and then use to get things such as car seats and cribs, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kan. The center provides both free prenatal and post-birth services to parents, and the Kansas Legislature is considering supporting such centers with both a tax credit for their donors and direct funding. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              A table in an exam room at the Insight Women's Center holds pamphlets for women who are facing unwanted pregnancies or may be suffering abuse, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kansas. Center staff say in providing services to patients, they deal with women who have been abused or sexually trafficked, and the center has a long-term goal of opening a maternity home to provide shelter. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Bridgit Smith, executive director of the Insight Women's Center, pauses while discussing the center's services for pregnant women and new parents, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kan. The center provides free pregnancy tests, limited sonograms and one-on-one classes on parenting and life skills such as money management, and the Kansas Legislature is considering providing funding to such centers, as well as a tax credit for their donors. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Korbe Bohac holds her nearly 8-month-old son, Winston, ahead of a hearing by the Kansas Senate tax committee on a bill that would grant a 70% income tax credit to donors to what supporters call "pregnancy resource centers" run by groups that oppose abortion and offering free services, including pregnancy tests, sonograms and parenting classes, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Bohac received services from the Insight Women's Clinic in Lawrence before and after Winston's birth and urged lawmakers to approve the bill. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Bridgit Smith, the executive director of the Insight Women's Center, discusses the center's services and how it advises women facing unwanted pregnancies about their options Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kansas. The center does not refer patients to abortion providers, but Smith says it does discuss abortion as an option, though most of its services are designed to assist women in carrying their pregnancies to term. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Kansas state Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, asks a question during a Senate tax committee hearing on a bill that would give a 70% income tax credit to donors to what are sometimes called pregnancy resource or crisis pregnancy centers, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The centers are operated by abortion opponents and offer free services such as pregnancy tests, sonograms and parenting classes. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Items are displayed in the "Boutique" at the Insight Women's Center, where clients can find clothes and other supplies for their babies, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kan. The Kansas Legislature is considering providing support to centers that are operated by abortion opponents to help encourage women to carry their pregnancies to term while providing them with services such as parenting classes. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
            
              Bridgit Smith, executive director of the Insight Women's Center stands outside the door to its educational and "Boutique" with clothes and other supplies for new parents, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Lawrence, Kansas. The center provides a variety of free services, including pregnancy tests, limited sonograms, and parenting and money-management counseling. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Though the Insight Women’s Center sits at the epicenter of a reinvigorated battle in the nation’s culture wars, the only hint of its faith-based mission to dissuade people from getting abortions is the jazzy, piano rendition of “Jesus Loves Me” playing in a waiting room.

The Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature is considering allocating millions of dollars in state funds to similar anti-abortion centers that persuade people to bring their pregnancies to term by offering free pregnancy tests and sonograms, as well as counseling and parenting classes taught by volunteers. They’re also considering offering millions more in income tax credits for donors supporting what they call “crisis pregnancy centers.”

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and gave control of abortion policy to the states, it led to bans and restrictions in some states, and executive orders and laws protecting access in others. Those debates continue, but perhaps less noticed is how this change refueled the renewed battle over taxpayer money.

Supporters say the effort shows abortion opponents are addressing families’ social and financial needs. But critics say the amount of new funding proposed for organizations like Insight — either in direct funding or tax credits for their donors — fall far short of what’s necessary to improve people’s access to health care and address ongoing poverty.

“You funnel money through a short-term solution that makes it appear as though you are doing something,” said Alesha Doan, a University of Kansas associate professor who has studied and written books about abortion politics.

Increasingly, liberal cities and states are funding access to abortion, including telemedicine, which has seen a notable rise with more than half of U.S. abortions now done with pills rather than surgery. Meanwhile, states with GOP legislatures and governors are looking to put more taxpayer money into organizations that talk people out of ending their pregnancies.

Legislative committees held hearings Thursday on proposals for a 70% income tax credit to donors who support anti-abortion centers, with a cap of $10 million in total credits. A Senate committee might vote this week.

It’s similar to a longstanding Missouri law that provides income tax credits to donors supporting anti-abortion centers. Arizona has such a law, and Mississippi’s Republican House speaker is trying to expand a cap on tax credits to $10 million from the $3.5 million authorized last year.

Arkansas and Oklahoma are considering adding similar tax credits, according to the National Right to Life Committee.

In Missouri, donors to anti-abortion centers have received $15 million in total state tax credits over the past five years, and one state analysis estimates the centers served about 43,000 people last year.

Abortion opponents have operated centers like Insight for decades, and the practice of conservative-led states offering financial aid to them predates Dobbs — the decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade.

On the abortion-rights side, Oregon lawmakers last year created a $15 million abortion-access fund, with the first $1 million going to a nonprofit that covers the costs of patients’ travel and procedures. California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington have also allocated or are considering offering public funding for abortions or related services.

In New Mexico last year, Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pledged $10 million in state funds to the construction of a new abortion clinic.

Morgan Hopkins, president of the abortion-rights advocacy group All(asterisk) Above All praised the funding. “Budgets are a reflection of our values,” she said.

Kansas already provides grants to programs that provide prenatal care, and encourage people to carry their pregnancies to term. But it spends less than $339,000 in a state budget of $24 billion on the program — and made only two grants totaling less than $74,000 to anti-abortion centers.

Now, some abortion opponents talk about emulating Missouri’s more than $8 million annual funding, plus the income tax credits.

Abortion rights supporters are frustrated that the push for such support is coming so soon after an Aug. 2 statewide vote that decisively rejected a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed legislators to greatly restrict or ban abortion.

“I have general concerns that we’re not respecting what was the very clear will of voters,” said state Sen. Ethan Corson, a Kansas City-area Democrat who serves on the Senate tax committee.

Abortion rights advocates say the centers lure patients away from abortion clinics with free services, give them inaccurate medical information and counseling from people who are not trained therapists. Some see funding them as a political gesture designed to make abortion bans look less harsh.

Abortion opponents argue that centers like Insight offer patients a wide range of prenatal and post-birth classes, in addition to other help. They also argue that boosting funding for free services after the August vote is a promise not to abandon parents and families.

In Lawrence, where the nearest abortion clinic is a 40-minute drive away, 28-year-old Korbe Bohac is still visiting the Insight center nearly 8 months after her son Winston was born. She told legislators the classes and counseling make her a better, more confident parent — and helped preserve her mental health. She called it “a safety net.”

The Insight center, which is only a few miles from the University of Kansas, has two sonogram nurses, and a doctor and radiologist sometimes volunteer their time. But services depend mostly on about 50 volunteers. The $340,000 annual budget is mostly supplied by private donations, but the organization received a community development grant in 2014 to launch parent education programs.

Center staff said that although they do not refer clients to abortion providers, they discuss abortion as an option. They said some patients who met with them went on to have abortions, though this is not possible to verify given patients’ privacy protocols.

Insight has two separate waiting rooms — one for its educational programs and one for medical services. Executive director Bridgit Smith said one reason is that it keeps pregnant patients from being influenced by seeing babies and toddlers.

Smith said she believes the proposed tax credit would increase donations, helping Insight start a maternity home for people without shelter.

“We’re trying to build strong individuals and strong families. And isn’t that what we all want?” Smith said. “Even for the woman that doesn’t choose to parent, we still want her to be strong and healthy after the decision.”

___

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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US states take control of abortion debate with funding focus