New data on state funding for anti-abortion clinics shows that Ohio has given more than $22 million to organizations operating in the state since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nation’s abortion law in 2022 in the Dobbs case.
Since 2013, the state has allocated more than $35.5 million in funding for anti-abortion efforts, according to Equity Forward’s latest study of state funding for the centers, which are also called “crisis pregnancy centers,” often religiously affiliated facilities that offer services like ultrasounds and pregnancy tests but also reportedly provide dated or debunked information about pregnancy.
The organization looked at 23 states that gave public money to anti-abortion centers from 1995, the year they say was the “first verifiable instance of funding,” through July 23 of this year.
“AACs use public money to fund tactics and programs that not only aim to delay, deceive, and discourage people seeking abortion care, but also create an unnecessary barrier for pregnant women seeking other health care and support services,” the report found.
The analysis found that more than $489 million has been given to anti-abortion groups in 22 states since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its 2022 Dobbs ruling.
Ohio sent $35,583,939 to facilities in the state, a figure that includes public funds for “alternative abortion programs,” Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds, and “other miscellaneous sources,” the study reported. Specifically, $17.8 million in TANF funds went to facilities since 2013, according to Equity Forward. The study found that a total of nearly $200 million in TANF funds were used for anti-abortion facilities in nine states.
TANF is a program designed to “help low-income families with children achieve economic independence,” according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Servicesalthough states have discretion regarding the exploit of federal funds as well as state contributions to the fund.
As part of Gov. Mike DeWine’s Faith-Based Communities Initiative, it received $13.5 million for fiscal year 2024 in TANF block grant funding as part of the state’s latest operating budget and funding allocations through TANF. According to the office’s website, TANF’s goals include preventing or reducing “the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancy,” encouraging “the creation and maintenance of two-parent families,” and ending “the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage.”
The state also has Parenthood and pregnancy program through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which was allocated $14 million in the latest budget, or $7 million for the fiscal year, according to State Budget Breakdown by Legislative Services Committee.
Organizations that receive money through PPP must “promote childbirth, not abortion, through counseling and other services, including parenting and adoption support,” according to the state. These entities are specifically prohibited from “engaging in or associating themselves with any abortion-related activities, including providing abortion counseling or referrals to abortion clinics, performing abortion-related medical procedures, or engaging in pro-abortion advertising.”
The state continues to fund entities in this way despite a referendum initiative that established reproductive rights, including abortion, last year with 57 percent of voters approving it. A DeWine spokesman has been asked repeatedly whether the language in the PPP will change to reflect the amendment’s language, but has not yet responded.
Ohio legislation from last year aims to escalate support for anti-abortion groups by possible tax breaksHow another republican bill attempts to prevent state funds from being spent on abortion-related services.
It is unclear whether the bills will be passed during this session of the General Assembly, which ends in December, but there is a possibility they could be reintroduced next year even if they do not come to a vote or pass.
