Minnesota May Chart Its Own Path Dealing With Anti-Abortion Counseling Centers
Anti-abortion counseling centers, often called “crisis pregnancy centers,” may soon face an existential choice in Minnesota: Leave behind their explicit agenda of dissuading people from having abortions or risk losing state funding. While other states move to defund “crisis pregnancy centers,” Minnesota may offer to renew their state grants — but with conditions. While some center operators could see that as a nonstarter, state Democrats may leave the door open for them to continue receiving taxpayer dollars — albeit under a battery of rules some Minnesota lawmakers hope could expand services for pregnant people amid the country’s rapidly shifting abortion landscape.
History of the Positive Abortion Alternatives Statute
For nearly 20 years, Minnesota’s public funding stream for the centers has flown mostly under the radar. In 2005, then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, signed into law a program to give grants to nonprofits that provide pregnancy and parenting services that do not “encourage or affirmatively counsel a woman to have an abortion.” By wide margins, the state Legislature approved the Positive Abortion Alternatives statute, pitched by anti-abortion leaders as providing money for prenatal health care and adoption services. The measure even garnered votes from Democrats who supported abortion rights but wanted to fund more services for pregnant people.
The Evolving Political Landscape
The heated political climate since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has put a new spotlight on public funding for anti-abortion centers. At least a dozen states use taxpayer money to fund the centers, and some Democratic-led states have already defunded, or are considering defunding, them altogether. In 2019, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used a line item veto to cancel $700,000 of funding for the chain of Real Alternatives counseling centers in her state, and she has vetoed spending on similar centers since then.
Current State Funding Data and Actions
- Minnesota: Considering renewing state grants under a battery of new rules and conditions.
- Michigan: Canceled $700,000 of funding for the chain of Real Alternatives counseling centers via line item veto.
- Other States: At least a dozen states continue to use taxpayer money to fund these centers.
Minnesota’s unique approach seeks to navigate this landscape by offering to renew state grants while potentially demanding that centers leave behind their explicit agenda of dissuading people from having abortions.