KC Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the Digital Abortion Clinic Landscape
Anti-abortion pregnancy resources centers in Kansas and Missouri provide counseling to people to continue pregnancies. The two driveways are side by side on a curvy stretch of 109th Street in Overland Park. One leads into the parking lot of Planned Parenthood, where, among other things, women can receive abortion services. The other belongs to Advice & Aid Pregnancy Centers, a nonprofit crisis pregnancy center where the mission, steeped in Christian faith, is to talk women away from abortion.
State Support for Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Taxpayer funding of centers nationwide has escalated fivefold over the last decade, thanks to efforts of legislators in mostly Republican-led states. Missouri already led all but two states in providing tax dollars to such centers — nearly $45 million since 2010. In Kansas, where voters last month overwhelmingly affirmed the right to an abortion, lobbyists plan to ask for increased state funding for the centers. More money could buy more ultrasound machines, which the centers use to encourage women to carry a pregnancy to term.
Geographic Distribution of Centers
Advice & Aid is one of about 2,500 crisis pregnancy centers in the United States, at least a dozen of them in the Kansas City metro. The following data highlights the scale of these organizations:
| Location | Number of Centers |
|---|---|
| United States | 2,500 |
| Missouri | 73 |
| Kansas | 38 |
| Kansas City Metro | 12+ |
The Rise of Digital Abortion Clinics
Telehealth companies that provide abortion pills are surging in popularity. A new class of health care startups has emerged in response to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the federal right to abortion last year. These “digital abortion clinics” connect patients with health care providers who are able to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, a course of care commonly described as the “abortion pill.” Their pricing is quite affordable, and there’s convenience in placing an order and getting pills delivered to your mailbox in three to four days.
Privacy Risks in Telehealth Services
While leaders at digital abortion clinics like Hey Jane and Choix have publicly expressed their commitment to users’ privacy as they grow, privacy experts have pointed out that their services may not be as secure as users expect them to be. Prosecutors have used women’s text messages and search histories as evidence in a number of abortion-related cases.
Factors Affecting User Security:
- Last July, a team of researchers at the Markup reported that Hey Jane’s site passed along user information to Meta and Google.
- It’s not uncommon for vulnerable data to end up in the hands of third-party brokers who compile digital profiles of users.
- The absence of a comprehensive federal privacy law leaves the burden of evaluating privacy policies to individual users.
- Reproductive health data is being sold and transported into a much larger system.
Thanks to a new series of “shield laws” protecting clinicians from out-of-state prosecution—passed in 12 states—these clinics are positioned to expand their reach even further, though users should proceed with caution when handing their personal information over to telehealth providers.