This month, BAF hosted its first-ever movie night! On this evening of education, commiseration, and community building, we screened an all-new documentary: Preconceived: The Unexpected World of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Not so coincidentally, our movie night took place just a stone’s throw away from both Planned Parenthood and Baltimore’s very own CPC, Options Baltimore. As a follow-up to this event, we compiled the following information to contextualize the crisis of CPC’s within the state of Maryland and reiterate the need for a well-resourced pro-abortion movement.

What are CPCs?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), also commonly referred to as Pregnancy Resource Centers, are nonprofit, pseudo-health centers (read: Fake Clinics) that primarily aim to dissuade patients from seeking abortion care. CPCs employ deceptive tactics to intentionally lure abortion-seekers to their facilities with the promise of free medical services, such as STI testing, ultrasounds, and “abortion counseling.” Clients in need of abortions are instead met with unlicensed “healthcare” workers and a litany of inflammatory misinformation intended to incite fear and shame. 

At their core, the majority of CPCs are Evangelical Christian ministries that operate through a medicalized façade as an arm of the sophisticated anti-abortion movement. A 2018 study published in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics decries the “dubious communication strategies” employed by CPCs and cautions that these centers are not providing an ethical service.

Quick Facts

• With over 2,500 CPCs across the country, these centers outnumber real, brick-and-mortar abortion clinics 3 to 1.
• Fewer than 50% of CPCs employ licensed medical professionals.
• Nationally, private philanthropic donations to CPCs outpace donations to clinics and abortion funds 5:1.
• In 29 states, CPCs obtain some form of state funding and 14 states directly fund CPCs through Alternatives to Abortion programs.
• Between 2019 and 2024, CPCs received $430 million in Federal funding.
• As of 2021, 39 CPCs are located throughout the state of Maryland. 
• Across Maryland, the average distance between any abortion clinic and the closest CPC is just under two miles.

What can we do?

BAF strives to align its abortion access work with tenets of Reproductive Justice that honor bodily autonomy and center the needs and wants of the client. BAF will continue to collaborate with trusted abortion providers; prioritize accuracy, safety, and privacy while avoiding judgment in service delivery; and work to reduce abortion stigma across the state of Maryland.

Abortion funds alone will not defeat the hydra that is the anti-abortion machine, but a well-resourced abortion justice movement is vital to continue connecting abortion-seekers to the care they need. As we approach the season of giving, we urge you to keep BAF or your local abortion fund in mind if you have funds to spare. Make a donation to the Baltimore Abortion Fund.

Missed movie night but want to see the film? Preconceived is available for rent here!

¹ Swartzendruber A, Lambert DN. A Web-Based Geolocated Directory of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in the United States: Description of CPC Map Methods and Design Features and Analysis of Baseline Data. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 Mar 27.
² Bryant, Amy G., and Jonas J. Swartz. “Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical.” Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association, March 1, 2018.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Swartzendruber A, Lambert DN.
⁵ Jones, Rachel K., Candace Gibson, and Jesse Philbin. “The Number of Brick-and-Mortar Abortion Clinics Drops, as US Abortion Rate Rises: New Data Underscore the Need for Policies That Support Providers.” Guttmacher Institute, July 10, 2024.
⁶ “Crisis Pregnancy Centers-Data Graphics.” NCRP, April 20, 2023. https://ncrp.org/crisis-pregnancy-centers-data-graphics/.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Parenthood, Planned. “Icymi: New Report Reveals Crisis Pregnancy Centers Received Nearly $430m in Federal Funding, House Members Call for Investigation .” Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Accessed October 10, 2024.
¹⁰ “Crisis Pregnancy Center Map & Finder.” CPC Map, October 14, 2020. https://crisispregnancycentermap.com/.
¹¹ Arbutus, Julia, and Molly Castle Work. “Anti-Abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers Outnumber Abortion Providers in Maryland 2 to 1.” CNS Maryland, November 1, 2021.