Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned of Roe v. Wade, North Carolina's pro-life pregnancy centers have seen an increase in traffic. And according to Kristi Brown of Mountain Area Pregnancy Services (MAPS), it is not always from women who live within the state.
"The state of North Carolina has one of the more liberal abortion laws in the South," Brown notes. "Many of the states that back up to us have put in more restrictive laws related to abortion, and so North Carolina is becoming a destination state for women to receive abortions in the South."
With the increase in traffic, the state government has increased funding to 11 crisis pregnancy centers by $3 million annually, and MAPS will receive $550,000 of that. Live Action News figures that is an increase of 1,000%, as the Asheville Citizen Times explains the center had previously received just $50,000 annually from the state.
The funding is part of a budget passed in June that was signed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, and it comes at a time when pregnancy resource centers throughout the country are under attack from many angles, including from vandals, politicians, and civic leaders.
Brown asserts her facility, which has registered nurses and an OB/GYN physician on staff and is well equipped to provide real help to women, will be a good steward of the money.
"We have had conversations with the state to have a clear understanding of what the funds can be used for," Brown tells AFN. "They will be used to further our mission of what we do, which is working with women and families in a crisis pregnancy situation so we could potentially buy items for mom, for baby -- items that we need to support our clients on a regular basis."
Like other pregnancy centers, they can also refer women to other resources the clinic does not provide, such as for drug and alcohol counseling.
