Washington, DC – Today, Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch and Reproaction launched a new tracker “UPCFinanceWatch.com,” which will be updated regularly with financial information from the unregulated pregnancy clinic (UPC, also known as “crisis pregnancy center” “fake clinic” and “anti-abortion center”) industry. The tracker aggregates the financial information for UPCs in one place, including their potential affiliations with Heartbeat International, the largest UPC network in the country.
“The unregulated pregnancy clinic industry has long been shrouded in secrecy, actively resisting legislative efforts aimed at scrutinizing its impact, its use of public funds, and its data privacy practices,” said Jenifer McKenna of Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch. “As state and federal lawmakers explore new proposals to allocate — and even expand — taxpayer funding to this sector, UPCFinanceWatch.com is, for the first time, revealing the staggering scale of the industry, which boasts an astonishing $1.7 billion in revenue and continues to grow.”
“In a post-Roe environment, access to accurate information about our bodies and lives is critical to the exercise of our human rights. Unfortunately, we know that unregulated anti-abortion pregnancy centers routinely peddle disinformation in their quest to mislead, shame, and convert people away from seeking abortion care,” said Erin Matson of Reproaction. “For years, Reproaction has tirelessly worked to expose these deceptive anti-abortion pregnancy centers and alert potential clients to the harmful practices pervasive within the industry. Now, UPCFinanceWatch.com unveils the alarming financial influence wielded by the anti-abortion pregnancy center industry, which we hope will spur more investigations from public officials, more interest within the public, and ultimately, more accountability.”
Unregulated pregnancy clinics (UPCs) are non-profit organizations primarily affiliated with national anti-abortion groups like Care Net, Heartbeat International, and NIFLA. They claim to offer pregnancy-related services like ultrasounds and pregnancy tests but often mislead their clients with the hope of delaying access to medical services like abortion. Because UPCs are not classified as medical practices and do not charge for services, they are exempt from regulations that govern medical clinics.
To view the tracker, please click here. For more information on taxpayer funding of UPCs, please click here.
Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch exposes and counters efforts to obstruct access to reproductive and maternal health care. We monitor, investigate, and expose drivers of disinformation and regressive policy in the reproductive and maternal health landscape. We work with partners and allies to ensure every patient can access credible reproductive and maternal health information and the care they deserve.
Reproaction’s vision is to uphold abortion rights and advance reproductive justice as a matter of human dignity. We introduce a new culture of accountability, and empower and inspire the reproductive rights movement and the broader progressive community to openly and enthusiastically stand up for abortion rights.