After multiple failed attempts to pass state funding for anti-abortion centers (AACs) (also known as crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs), Arizona state legislators tucked a line-item appropriation of $1.5 million for a "family health pilot program" for the fiscal year 2021–2022 into one of the state’s annual budget bills, which was recently signed into law on June 30, 2021, by Governor Doug Ducey.

Introduction

As of spring 2021, more than 2,500 anti-abortion centers, or AACs, (sometimes called “crisis pregnancy centers,” “CPCs,” or “pregnancy resource centers”) exist in the US. These AACs aim to deter people seeking abortions from receiving the medically accurate, non-judgmental healthcare they need.

Executive Summary

In 2019, nine states passed severely restrictive anti-abortion laws, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Missouri. 

Following an onslaught of anti-abortion legislation and rhetoric in states across the United States in 2019, Equity Forward filed records requests in Arizona, Missouri, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.

After receiving and reviewing more than 13,000 pages of records from several of these states, Equity Forward identified key findings from Ohio, Missouri, Arizona, Florida and Georgia. Below is a research report highlighting these findings, as well as the public records as received.