The majority of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which provide pro-life support to expectant mothers in need, are located close to abortion facilities, according to a study that criticizes CPCs’ work.
Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) published the study, which Andrea Swartzendruber, Danielle Lambert, Nicole Luisi, and Erin Johnson co-authored.
The “Background” section of the study notes that CPCs employ the “tactic” of establishing themselves near abortion facilities to further their goal of preventing abortions.
The study, which uses data from 2021, has a website of the map documenting where each CPC across the U.S. is located. The map’s website claims that CPCs are “also known as ‘fake women’s health centers,’” and that “CPCs primarily aim to prevent people from having abortions.”
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CPCs provide women and their children with a wide range of services and material support. As CatholicVote previously reported, the Charlotte Lozier Institute documented that CPCs in 2022 provided $358 million in services, including ultrasounds, clothing, formula, diapers, and parenting education programs, to clients for free.
The study reports that 54.9% of census block groups lived in “dual presence zones,” which are areas where an abortion facility and a CPC are within 15 miles of each other.
Swartzendruber is an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Georgia College of Public Health. According to NBC News, Swartzendruber said that CPCs have been open with the researchers about their “strategy” of being located close to abortion facilities.
“Part of their strategy is to compete with abortion facilities,” Swartzendruber said.
Swartzendruber later “[added] that the centers often divert women” who are seeking medical care, NBC reported.
Lambert, who is also an associate professor at University of Georgia, said, according to NBC, that CPCs are also showing up in online search inquiries on abortion.
“So if you think about Googling ‘abortion services near me,’ we know that a lot of times CPCs may show up in those searches,” Lambert said, according to NBC. “So those are areas where you may accidentally end up at a CPC thinking you’re at a place that offers legitimate abortion services.”
In September 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Yelp after it appended a misleading notice on CPCs on its app, claiming that CPCs “typically provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite,” according to a press release from Paxton’s office.
Paxton’s press release stated at the time: “That disclaimer is misleading and often untrue because pregnancy resource centers frequently do provide medical services with licensed medical professionals onsite.” The lawsuit culminated in a legal victory for Paxton in February 2024.
The study refers to the abortion procedure as “abortion care” and suggests that government officials and others “prioritize… urging governments to refrain from supporting, referring to, and funding CPCs,” as well as “urging” governmental regulating of CPCs.
Marie Smith is among millions of women who have met with CPCs. In December 2023, she shared in The Federalist how a Boston-based center helped her embrace life when she was pregnant a second time.
She shared that the first time she was pregnant, she was 16, and had an abortion at Planned Parenthood. The workers had told her she “absolutely had” to have an abortion.
“The weight of my lost child dragged me into a pit of depression and despair,” Smith wrote.
Four years later, she was pregnant again.
“Homeless and jobless at 20 years old, I feared I would never be able to afford the necessary items for my unborn child and was left thinking abortion was my only option,” she shared.
But then her cousin referred her to a CPC. The center helped her with classes and other resources, and she had her son. Smith credits the center with saving her and her son’s lives.
Two years later, Smith was expecting again and in need of support. The pregnancy center paid for her rent and utilities and helped her find work. The center kept in contact with Smith after she delivered and provided a Christmas gift for the boys in 2022.
“I will never forget what those women [at the center] did for me, and how they continue to be present in my life even now,” she wrote.
LifeNews Note: McKenna Snow writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
