Kate McKee remembers one sunny afternoon in June 2024 with vivid detail.
McKee, director of marketing and communications for Planned Parenthood Keystone, said she was sitting with her work outside her employer’s Lancaster health center, which was closed to the public that day. An artist worked beside her, painting a mural on the center’s exterior wall.
She noted it was peaceful—with no patients entering, there were also no protestors. She expected to move through the afternoon undisturbed. Then, a car pulled up.
McKee said a woman hurriedly got out of the car, approached her, and asked her if she was late for her appointment. She pulled out her phone and showed McKee a text message confirming her visit for that day.
“That’s when I knew it wasn’t us,” McKee said, noting PP Keystone clinics do not confirm patient appointments via text.
Examining the text, McKee realized the woman had mistakenly booked an appointment not with Planned Parenthood, but with a crisis pregnancy center on the same street.
“She thought she was coming here.”
McKee said she helped the woman schedule an appointment with Planned Parenthood for a future date. She did not personally see the woman return.
“I hope she made it back,” McKee said, noting she was not sure how far along the woman was in her process of seeking abortion care.
The scope of CPCs
Across Pennsylvania abortion providers report an increasing number of encounters similar to McKee’s with patients who have been in contact with, or visited, crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).
CPCs are “non-profit organizations that aim to reach people seeking reproductive health care to deter them from accessing abortions and contraception,” according to Dr. Andrea Swartzendruber and Dr. Danielle Lambert, co-authors of Crisis Pregnancy Center Map, which tracks CPCs nationally and reports on regulatory trends by state.
Pennsylvania ranks the third highest state in the country with 154 CPCs. There are only 21 in-person abortion facilities in the state, according to abortionfinder.org.
The map authors state that CPCs attempt to position themselves as health facilities, even though they are “largely unregulated and typically are not staffed by licensed clinicians.”
Tara Murtha, director of impact and engagement at the Women’s Law Project, said CPCs use the strategy of “medicalization,” or making claims of medical legitimacy. She said in the 1980’s CPCs began offering pregnancy testing, then later switched to “limited ultrasounds.”
“Most people see an ultrasound machine, and it feels very medical,” she said, but noted that CPCs operate within a “gray area” which exempts them from adhering to the industry’s oversight standards and privacy regulations, including HIPAA.
READ: Are Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Pennsylvania Exploiting the Personal Data of Prospective Clients?
“There’s an anti-abortion center [CPC] with a very similar name [Community Women’s Center of Philadelphia] right near our clinic. The name and location add to [patients’] confusion,” said Roxanne McNellis, director of public affairs for The Women’s Centers in Philadelphia.
She said that CPC representatives frequently park vans outside their centers, which leaves an impact on patients.
“People often say they feel uncomfortable or stressed when they’re approached. The shouting and leafletting can be a lot,” said McNellis, adding that “when someone actually goes to an anti-abortion center, they frequently end up confused and frustrated after realizing they weren’t at a real abortion appointment or completing the required state information session.”
Similarly, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania’s Director of Communications Michael J. Gibson said he’s come in contact with patients in the Pittsburgh area who identified as having visited both PPWP and CPCs.
“Usually, they’re expressing confusion about the legality of CPCs,” Gibson said. “When they found out the person in the white coat with them was not, in fact, a trained health care professional they felt unsafe. In the handful of times I’ve heard this story, I am sad to report there have been discussions of feeling physically violated and misled by the CPC provider.”
Pennsylvania’s history: anti-abortion centers funded by taxpayer dollars
Murtha said Pennsylvania grew to a leading position in the country with CPCs by becoming one of the first states to divert taxpayer funds to them in the mid 1990s.
In a report to the Joint Democratic Policy Committee in 2022, Murtha revealed that Pennsylvania had “siphoned” more than $144 million to CPC networks through its Real Alternatives grant program (RA), as well as given away funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), which is “safety-net money intended for pregnant women and children living in poverty.”
Governor Josh Shapiro terminated the contracts in late 2023, which essentially “defunded” the CPC taxpayer pipeline, but by that time other states had replicated it, Murtha said. “Unfortunately, it’s the PA model that has been used in other states to expand CPC networks.”
Although state contracts were severed, CPCs remain financially stable and growing in PA, largely thanks to “private donors,” Murtha said.
READ: ‘Preconceived’ Documentary Uncovers the Reality Behind Anti-Abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Additionally the state lacks regulatory oversight and consumer protection, according to CPC Map data.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and with support from the current administration, CPCs are poised and projected to continue to grow nationally.
And with CPCs outnumbering abortion clinics in Pennsylvania by more than 7 to 1, McNellis said it’s important for patients to stay researched and informed, and to be aware of ethical warning signs.
“If someone you’re speaking with withholds information, pushes you toward one outcome, or refuses to refer you for the care you want, that’s a major red flag,” she said. “And it’s exactly why medical ethics experts have raised concerns about crisis pregnancy centers.”
