Massachusetts Legislature Enacts Supplemental Budget With Critical Funding for Abortion Legal Hotline, Public Education Campaign on Anti-Abortion Centers
BOSTON (March 23, 2023) – The Massachusetts Legislature today enacted an FY2023 supplemental budget that included critical funding for reproductive health care access, including $1 million for a public education campaign on the dangers of anti-abortion centers, or “crisis pregnancy centers,” and $250,000 to support the Abortion Legal Hotline in Massachusetts. The budget is now sent to Governor Maura Healey’s desk for signature.
“Once again, the Massachusetts Legislature is meeting this moment of crisis with bold investments in reproductive equity. We’re so grateful to Senate President Karen Spilka, Speaker Ron Mariano, and Chairmen Michael Rodrigues and Aaron Michlewitz for moving this critical funding across the finish line,” said Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder. “A multilingual public education campaign that meets people in their communities will be key to ensuring every person across the state is aware of the dangers of anti-abortion centers and knows where they can access real, legitimate abortion care. As the abortion legal landscape continues to change by the hour, funding for the Abortion Legal Hotline will help expand the resource’s reach and provide more patients and providers with the legal advice and assurance to access and obtain abortion care in our Commonwealth. In a post-Roe world, Massachusetts is making its values clear by investing in resources to support abortion patients and providers.”
Public Education Campaign on the Dangers of Anti-Abortion Centers
Anti-abortion centers, or so-called “crisis pregnancy centers,” are facilities that purport to offer full options counseling, when, in reality, they exist to dissuade people from obtaining abortion care. These facilities outnumber legitimate abortion clinics in Massachusetts three to one, and pose a serious threat to people accessing legitimate abortion care throughout the state.
Anti-abortion centers are often deliberately located near reproductive health clinics, and purposefully use similar names in order to confuse patients visiting clinics. These facilities create websites that appear in online searches for legitimate abortion providers and advertise online and in print media in ways that might appeal to those who are considering abortion. Anti-abortion centers are typically managed and funded by national organizations that oppose abortion, and offer medical disinformation in order to manipulate and dissuade people from accessing abortion care.
The funding in the supplemental budget would be used to help educate providers and the public about so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” and their lack of medical services, in addition to where people can access legitimate medical and family planning services throughout the state.
Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Care Guide identifies legitimate abortion providers throughout New England, in addition to flagging anti-abortion centers throughout the region.
You can find a full list of anti-abortion centers throughout New England HERE.
Funding for the Abortion Legal Hotline
Reproductive Equity Now—in partnership with Attorney General Andrea Campbell, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Women’s Bar Foundation, and five law firms across the state—launched the Abortion Legal Hotline this January, a confidential resource to connect Massachusetts patients and providers to free legal advice about their rights to offer and access abortion care.
Funding for the Hotline included in the supplemental budget will be used to support staff answering calls, managing security, coordinating among lawyers, and frequently updating resources as the access landscape shifts; ongoing legal training to reflect the changing legal landscape; translation of the Hotline into multiple languages to ensure every community across the state is able to use the resource free from language barriers; and public education, including digital advertising, about the existence of the resource.
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