Conservative lawmakers in multiple states are pushing legislation drafted by an anti-abortion advocacy group to increase protections for crisis pregnancy centers, organizations that provide some health-related services but also work to dissuade women from having abortions.
The legislation would prohibit state and local governments from requiring crisis pregnancy centers to perform abortions, provide referrals for abortion services, or inform patients about such services or contraception options. It also would allow crisis pregnancy centers to sue the violating government entity.
Wyoming lawmakers of the Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression Act, or , on March 4. Other versions have advanced in and this year. One was in 2025. The CARE Act is 鈥渕odel legislation鈥 created by the , an anti-abortion, conservative Christian legal advocacy group.
A similar proposal, the , was introduced in Congress last year but hasn鈥檛 moved out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Wyoming bill says that pregnancy centers, many of which are affiliated with religious organizations, need legal protection after facing 鈥渦nprecedented attacks鈥 following the Supreme Court鈥檚 overturning of Roe v. Wade. It says that several state legislatures have introduced bills that . Opponents of these centers say they falsely present themselves to consumers as medical clinics, though they are not subject to state and federal laws that protect patients in medical facilities.
鈥淎cross the country, government officials are increasingly, increasingly targeting pregnancy care centers,鈥 Valerie Berry, executive director of the in Cheyenne, said at a February legislative hearing on the Wyoming bill. 鈥淭his legislation is not about creating division. It鈥檚 about protecting constitutional freedoms, freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience.鈥
Wyoming state , a Republican, expressed concern at the hearing about granting protections to pregnancy centers that other private businesses do not have.
鈥淭hey have protections in place,鈥 he said. 鈥淢y issue with this is giving extra special protections.鈥
In 2022, Wellspring Health Access, the only clinic in Wyoming that provides abortions, in an arson attack.
鈥淲e are the ones providing the accurate information on reproductive health care, and we suffer the consequences for that,鈥 Julie Burkhart, the president and founder of Wellspring Health Access, told 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News.
, a professor at the University of California-Davis School of Law, said the proposed legislation would insulate crisis pregnancy centers from having to meet the standards that medical organizations face. It would blur the line between advocacy and medical practice, she said. And such legislation provides Republicans with a potentially useful campaign message ahead of midterm elections.
鈥淭he GOP needs a messaging strategy as for how it cares about women even if it bans abortion and even if it doesn鈥檛 want to commit state resources to helping people before and after pregnancy,鈥 Ziegler said. 鈥淭he strategy is to outsource that to pregnancy counseling centers, which of course increases the incentive to protect them.鈥
Model Legislation
The Alliance Defending Freedom is the same group that , the 1973 court ruling that protected the right to abortion nationwide. The group drafted model legislation to establish a 15-week abortion ban that was the basis of a 2018 Mississippi law. That led to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization Supreme Court case that overturned Roe.
The alliance said its attorneys were unavailable to comment on the organization鈥檚 strategy for the CARE Act. In for the bill, the group said federal, state, and local efforts are targeting pregnancy care centers in a 鈥渃lear attempt to undermine and impede鈥 their work and shut them down.
In recent years, have been targeted with vandalism and threats.
But the attacks the model legislation primarily aims to address are the legal and regulatory efforts by some states seeking more oversight of the crisis pregnancy centers, including a California law requiring centers to clearly inform patients about their services. That law was overturned when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of crisis pregnancy centers鈥 argument that it violated their First Amendment rights.
The Supreme Court is that will decide whether states can subpoena the organizations for donor and internal information.
It鈥檚 unlikely that crisis pregnancy centers would face such regulatory measures in the conservative states where the legislation is under consideration. One Wyoming lawmaker acknowledged that in the February committee hearing.
Differing Services
During that hearing, state , a Republican who heads the committee sponsoring the bill, presented the measure as 鈥渟o important, especially with our maternity desert,鈥 referring to a lack of access to maternity health care services.
Some crisis pregnancy centers may have a few licensed clinicians, but many do not. Many offer free resources, such as diapers, baby clothing, and other items, sometimes in exchange for participation in counseling or parenting classes.
Planned Parenthood clinics, by contrast, provide a range of health services, such as testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, primary care, and screenings for cervical cancer. They also are regulated as medically licensed organizations.
Since Roe was overturned, the abortion rights movement has faced significant challenges. Congressional Republicans鈥 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law last summer, to abortion providers. The move contributed to Planned Parenthood closing last year.
As of 2024, operated nationwide, according to a map created by researchers at the University of Georgia, compared with providing abortions at the end of 2025.
a research organization affiliated with the anti-abortion nonprofit SBA Pro-Life America, has suggested that pregnancy centers could help fill the gap left by the Planned Parenthood closures.
Ziegler said that would leave patients vulnerable to medical risks.
Centers鈥 Growing Power
Previous efforts in , Colorado, and Vermont to regulate crisis pregnancy centers arose from concerns over allegations of and questions about .
In 2024, in five states to investigate whether centers were misleading patients into believing that their personal information was protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, and to find out how the centers were using patients鈥 information.
Courts, including the Supreme Court, have regularly that argue the attempts at regulation are violations of their First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression.
Crisis pregnancy centers also have seen a flood of funding since Roe was overturned.
At least , including crisis pregnancy centers, according to the Lozier Institute.
Six states distribute a portion of their federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding 鈥 cash payments meant for low-income families with children 鈥 to crisis pregnancy centers. Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Oklahoma have provided tens of millions of dollars for the organizations.
One analysis found that crisis pregnancy centers also received from 2017 to 2023, including from the 2020 relief package signed into law during Trump鈥檚 first term amid the covid pandemic.
Despite the challenges clinics that provide abortions face, Burkhart, the head of the Wellspring facility in Wyoming, said it鈥檚 important to continue offering access to people who need it. She鈥檚 helped open clinics in rural parts of other conservative states and said those clinics continue to see people walking through their doors.
鈥淭hat proves to me, regardless of your religion, political party, there are times in people鈥檚 lives that people need access to qualified reproductive health care,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat includes abortion.鈥
