After being more than a year overdue, the NC General Assembly finally passed a state budget last month. Passing a state budget is the main job of state lawmakers, and we are relieved that our state is no longer the only one operating without a current budget. As is usual, this budget (SB257) is a massive document detailing funding appropriations for state agencies and employees, as well as an informal record of our elected officials’ priorities. Just like all government budgets, there are both good and bad elements in this new state budget, often with politics inserted where it should not be. More funding for the state’s anti-abortion centers, also known as “crisis pregnancy centers”, is partisan politics in our budget masquerading as health policy.
Anti-abortion centers in North Carolina first received $250,000 in the 2013 state budget. Ten years later, the 2023 budget appropriated over $19 million. With no budget passed in 2025, there was still almost $7 million in recurring funding for these centers. And when the NC General Assembly finally passed the 2023-2025 budget last month, there was another nearly $12 million in funding for this budget year, holding the biennium (2-year) budget spending at around $19 million.
It’s fair and necessary to demand more scrutiny on how that money is being used, particularly in a state that has struggled to bring down its maternal and infant mortality rates, which remain above the national average (the 2025 March of Dimes Report gave North Carolina a D+). What is being done with that money? Who are these state-funded programs serving? Are the programs and resources they are promoting evidence-based or medically accurate? Importantly, what has been their impact on the health of pregnant patients in our state? Questions have even come up concerning whether medical professionals direct these centers and what standards, if any, they have regarding patient privacy. Unfortunately, our efforts, along with those of our pro-reproductive-freedom champions in the state legislature, have yielded more questions than answers.
All North Carolina residents have a right to medically accurate, quality, affordable, accessible healthcare, no matter where they live, how much money they have, or their insurance status. At Pro-Choice North Carolina, we are continuing to call for accountability for our state health dollars being diverted to centers that are more about anti-abortion and anti-choice ideology than actual healthcare. We are organizing advocates to take on these centers in their communities, educating state legislators, other elected officials, and our community partners about the negative impacts of these centers, and documenting their tactics, deception, and harms, while advocating for programs and resources that support patients getting the accurate, quality, and timely reproductive healthcare they need.
To learn more about anti-abortion centers in North Carolina, including common tactics and misinformation they spread, see our website.
