Florida Governor Rick Scott recently signed House Bill 41 into law, which establishes Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) as legitimate wellness centers and permanently funds them with taxpayer dollars. CPCs are fake clinics that judge, shame, and deceive women to continue their pregnancies by providing misleading information against abortion and using coercive and fraudulent tactics. HB 41 also appropriates state funding to support and promote childbirth. By limiting subcontractors to “exclusively those who promote childbirth” this legislation could cut out qualified family planning providers who provide birth control, testing and treatment of STIs or referrals to abortion care.
“We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right, and that quality care should be accessible, safe, and medically accurate.”
Charo Valero
Charo Valero, State Policy Director, Florida Latina Advocacy Network (FL LAN) of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH), issued the following statement: “NLIRH is outraged that our legislators and our governor passed a bill that legitimizes the use of coercive and fraudulent tactics to shame and intimidate those seeking care. We believe that healthcare is a fundamental human right, and that quality care should be accessible, safe, and medically accurate. CPCs provide exactly the opposite. These fake clinics purposely divert women from accessing comprehensive and timely care from appropriately trained and licensed medical providers, confusing and upsetting those who need services the most.
“CPCs disproportionately hurt our Latinx community and families by adding yet another significant barrier to already limited access to care. Latinx folks already face language and cultural barriers that hinder not just healthcare access, but healthcare literacy. We also have barriers when it comes to documentation status and financial resources. For our communities, making two trips – one to a CPC and then another to a clinic that can actually meet our needs – may delay our access to care or prevent us from seeking it altogether.
“The lies have got to stop. The deception, the fraud, and the abuse have got to stop. We deserve to know the full range of care options so that we can make the decisions that are best for ourselves and our families with dignity and self-determination. No one should be deceived when they are seeking healthcare – it’s that simple.”
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