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How anti-abortion pregnancy centers in Florida get taxpayer funds with almost no oversight
https://www.wlrn.org/health/2024-01-09/how-anti-abortion-pregnancy-centers-in-florida-get-taxpayer-funds-with-almost-no-oversightTo understand the problems with Florida’s oversight of anti-abortion pregnancy centers, you don’t have to look much further than Mary’s Pregnancy Resource Center, north of Miami.
The crisis pregnancy center in Broward County steered women away from abortion while providing free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and parenting classes. Founded by Yohanka Reyes and her husband, its mission was rooted in Reyes’ own horrific history: The first time she became pregnant after she was sexually assaulted as a young girl, she had an abortion. The second time, she decided to carry her baby to term – as it turned out, the only child she would give birth to.
Mary’s “has been the greatest blessing in the world,” Reyes declared in an interview with a Spanish-language Catholic TV channel. “To be able to tell my story and to be able to save so many lives and be able to reach their souls with the word of Jesus.”
For years, Mary’s was one of the crown jewels of the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, the little-known nonprofit that administers the state-funded “alternatives to abortion” program. In April, the network’s profile grew tremendously after the Legislature approved a fivefold funding increase to $25 million a year. In October, state support grew once again after the state Department of Health quietly increased the contract to up to $29.4 million.
Last year’s funding nearly matches that of the entire last decade, when the state handed out $32.5 million in taxpayer money to the anti-abortion initiative. Mary’s has been one of its biggest beneficiaries, taking in more than $2.2 million in that period.
The crisis pregnancy center in Broward County steered women away from abortion while providing free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and parenting classes. Founded by Yohanka Reyes and her husband, its mission was rooted in Reyes’ own horrific history: The first time she became pregnant after she was sexually assaulted as a young girl, she had an abortion. The second time, she decided to carry her baby to term – as it turned out, the only child she would give birth to.
Mary’s “has been the greatest blessing in the world,” Reyes declared in an interview with a Spanish-language Catholic TV channel. “To be able to tell my story and to be able to save so many lives and be able to reach their souls with the word of Jesus.”
For years, Mary’s was one of the crown jewels of the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, the little-known nonprofit that administers the state-funded “alternatives to abortion” program. In April, the network’s profile grew tremendously after the Legislature approved a fivefold funding increase to $25 million a year. In October, state support grew once again after the state Department of Health quietly increased the contract to up to $29.4 million.
Last year’s funding nearly matches that of the entire last decade, when the state handed out $32.5 million in taxpayer money to the anti-abortion initiative. Mary’s has been one of its biggest beneficiaries, taking in more than $2.2 million in that period.