Topeka
Kansas lawmakers want to establish an “alternatives to abortion” program in the state.
Proposed legislation would require the state to contract with a nonprofit organization to provide support to any pregnant woman, father of an unborn child or parent of a child ages 2 or under. The nonprofit would then subcontract with ”pregnancy support centers,” maternity homes, adoption agencies and other social service organizations.
It’s a program that’s been tried in other states.
In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Pregnancy Care Network promised to help 9,300 women when it won the contract. An audit obtained by The Oklahoman found that the program instead only helped 524 women and spent the majority of state dollars on administrative costs and salaries. Roughly a quarter of the money the nonprofit received was passed on to crisis pregnancy centers.
The Texas Tribune reported that Texas does not track how many abortions are prevented by the state’s $100 million alternatives to abortion program.
In Pennsylvania the state’s chosen contractor siphoned funds from the program to pay for expansions in other states, according to a 2017 report from the state auditor.
The Kansas program is estimated to cost $1.6 million annually though it could change based upon need, but lawmakers could choose to allocate more or less. The program would be established in addition to Kansas’ existing grant program that provides funding to crisis pregnancy centers and prenatal clinics.
Crisis pregnancy centers often provide pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling for expecting and new parents. They also often provide diapers, clothes and other supplies for new parents.
These groups provide services with the express goal of preventing abortions. They are frequently criticized by abortion rights advocates for deceiving women who are seeking an abortion and not providing medical care.
The Kansas bill requires the state to use available federal funds to match Kansas’ investment which could require the state to divert federal dollars used to assist low income families.
Jeanne Gawdun, a lobbyist for Kansans for Life, said it would be incumbent upon the state treasurer, currently Republican Steven Johnson, to pick a contractor and write a contract to ensure the program serves its intended purpose.
“That’s his area of expertise is to be able to determine ‘OK, is it going to be a good organization we can contract with that we can have the accountability to make sure money goes where it needs to go?’” Gawdun said.
In written testimony Katie Baylie, director of legislative affairs for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, pointed to issues in Texas and Pennsylvania as a key reason for lawmakers to reject the bill.
“At worst, as evidenced in other states, this money will be used to fund executive salaries, trips, and out-of-state development costs, with little to no governmental oversight,” she said.
Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, told reporters she planned to speak with the bill’s proponents about reports on problems in other states.
Despite the concerns in other states, Republican proponents and anti-abortion advocates argue the legislation will care for families in Kansas who want to carry a pregnancy to term but lack the resources.
“Many pregnant women in crisis face tremendous pressure from their partners, family, friends and even society to abort their children,” Gawdun said.“PRCs (pregnancy resource centers) provide women with the support and the resources they need to not only choose life for their children but also improve life for themselves.”
Testifying to the House Health and Human Services Committee, administrators at centers said the additional funding would allow them to hire the staff needed to provide services to parents for a more sustained period of time.
“We know that people are having babies and lots of people need support to get to medical services,” said Heather Roberts, manager of adoption and pregnancy counseling at Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas.
But abortion rights proponents take issue with state funds going to the anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers.
“Their primary goal is to divert people seeking medical care from accessing it,” said Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, a spokesman for Trust Women Foundation, which runs an abortion clinic in Wichita.
“Some of these bills, they’re anything except abortion. Sometimes that’s what people want and why are we getting in the way of people having the full range of medical options available to them.”
The bill is among a series of measures the GOP-controlled Legislature has pursued in an effort to reduce abortions without violating the state constitution’s right to an abortion.
Last month, the Kansas Senate approved a bill providing tax credits for donations to crisis pregnancy centers and a separate bill that would ban telemedicine abortion. The House Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on a bill requiring doctors to perform lifesaving care on any infants born alive during a failed abortion.
Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican, introduced three bills Tuesday adjusting the definition of abortion, requiring childcare to be paid for unborn children and offering income tax credits for unborn children.
The series of bills, proponents say, are proof that lawmakers are ignoring the will of the people months after the state voted 59% to 41% to retain abortion rights in the state constitution.
“The legislators that roam these halls witness the election results yet take it with a grain of salt. They think they can dismiss the historic turnout with a landslide win and pursue their own agendas,” Rija Nazir, an organizer for the Vote Neigh campaign, said during a day of abortion rights activism at the Capitol.
But since the vote, Republicans have rejected the idea that Kansans broadly support abortion rights. Senate President Ty Masterson told reporters last month that the vote told him “40% of Kansans are OK with an all out ban on abortion, no exceptions.”
“I think there’s a much larger group of people that are okay with restrictions with exceptions,” he said.
