Louisiana Has Not Monitored Public Funds Given to Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration has failed to regulate or provide oversight of public money given to anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” over the past year, as required by state law.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services did not monitor how state dollars were spent at “crisis pregnancy centers,” create regulations for how they can use that money, or track whether the centers met the goals of their state contracts, according to a report the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office released Sept. 8.

Those benchmarks were expected to be met under a 2024 state law to establish the Pregnancy and Baby Care Initiative, which replaced a similar state program called Alternatives to Abortion.

“DCFS could have paid pregnancy centers for services ineligible for funding under state law,” read the report Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack submitted to lawmakers on Sept. 3.

For years, Louisiana has financially supported the controversial “crisis pregnancy centers” that were originally designed as competitors to abortion clinics. Supporters say the centers, frequently affiliated with religious groups, offer assistance to pregnant people and new parents that is needed more than ever since Louisiana’s abortion ban went into effect in 2022.

Critics said many of the centers misrepresent themselves as health-care clinics, even when their staff members have little medical education. Some centers have also pushed unfounded medical concepts and treatments onto clients.

For example, five of the “crisis pregnancy centers” receiving state funding in the last year offer “abortion pill reversal” services, according to the auditor’s report. Such treatments have not been proven effective or safe and are denounced by leading physician organizations.

In all, the state distributed $1.2 million to 12 “crisis pregnancy centers” from August 2024 to July 2025. Eleven of the 12 centers drew down the maximum funding the state offered of $100,800 during that period.

The Landry administration intends to give Louisiana anti-abortion centers more money this year. It has raised the annual cap for funding per center to $249,999 in the current budget cycle, in spite of the auditor’s concerns.

But most “crisis pregnancy centers” in Louisiana do not receive state funds. As of June, there were 38 anti-abortion centers operating in the state based on the audit report.

Lack of oversight

Louisiana lawmakers were specific about what services the state was willing to pay “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide.

The 2024 law that set up the Pregnancy and Baby Care Initiative says that only counseling, mentoring, classes, and material items such as cribs or diapers can be covered with state money. The funding can also pay for referrals to state agencies that can provide help with signing up for public benefits, child care, or health programs.

The auditor was unable to discern whether the state’s $1.2 million went toward covering these services or other items because state officials did not require the “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide documentation about where the money was spent. State contracts with the “crisis pregnancy centers” also didn’t limit how the money could be used to services laid out in the state statute.

Additionally, the Department of Children and Family Services told the auditor it never paid less than the maximum amount allowed of $300 per client per month to a “crisis pregnancy center” over the first year of the program.

“DCFS did not require pregnancy centers to bill only for services eligible for state funding or provide any additional supporting documentation for services provided,” according to the audit report.

The centers provide a number of services to clients that are not supposed to be covered by the state including ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, screenings for sexually transmitted infection, and medication prescriptions.

The agency also didn’t enforce state contract provisions that required the centers to meet certain service goals. It initially declined to impose more than $7,500 in fines on centers for missing those benchmarks, according to the auditor’s report.

In response to the audit, Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services Secretary Rebecca Harris said she will implement more stringent reporting requirements for the centers and work to create state regulations by the end of the year. She will also make the centers pay the $7,500 in penalties they would have otherwise owed.

“DCFS will not authorize payment for any services outside the scope of those permitted under state law,” Harris wrote in a letter to the auditor last month.

Michelle Erenberg, executive director of abortion rights group Lift Louisiana,  wasn’t surprised the state hasn’t monitored its spending with the anti-abortion centers closely. She opposed the law, in part, because the reporting requirements weren’t stringent.

“Several of these recommendations regarding oversight and transparency and more rigorous reporting are things that we have been suggesting that the legislature do for years,” Erenberg said in a Sept. 8 interview.

Umbrella nonprofit hasn’t been picked

Supporters of the “crisis pregnancy centers” believe Louisiana’s oversight of the program will improve once the Landry administration picks a nonprofit organization to oversee it.

The 2024 law requires the Department of Children and Family Services to contract with a single nonprofit group to distribute the state funding to “crisis pregnancy centers” through subcontracts. The nonprofit is also supposed to set up a website and help promote the centers, according to state law.

“We believe this program is done most effectively when a general contractor is named,” Ben Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, said in an interview Monday. “We just urge the department to name a contractor for the best success.”

The agency has not finished developing the contract bid requirements for the nonprofit and, according to the report, will not have an organization hired for the job until July 2026, two years after the law was approved. The Department of Children and Family Services is struggling with the contract guidelines, according to the auditor, because of restrictions lawmakers put into the law.

The statute does not allow the department to demand anything of the nonprofit except for the creation of a website and a commitment to do some marketing. Other obligations are explicitly forbidden, according to the law.

In its report, the auditor questioned whether the nonprofit entity is even necessary or the best use of state funding. For years, the Department of Children and Family Services has contracted directly with “crisis pregnancy centers,” and the auditor suggested it might be a waste of money to hire a middleman.

“This could potentially decrease the funding available to pregnancy centers for services rendered because the general contractor will collect an administrative fee to pass funding from DCFS to the pregnancy centers,” according to the report.

Other states with similar funding programs for “crisis pregnancy centers” have also had problems when they have used nonprofit contractors to distribute the money.

Texas overhauled its “crisis pregnancy center” funding program—which distributes more than $100 million—this year after some anti-abortion centers appeared to be spending the state money on activities other than direct services for pregnant people. Critics also alleged the state was overpaying the centers for services such as distributing pamphlets to clients.

In Oklahoma, an auditor also found only $106,000 of $392,000 spent with its umbrella nonprofit went to “crisis pregnancy centers.” The nonprofit said it was going to provide services to 9,300 women in Oklahoma over a year but only served 524, according to information contained in the Louisiana audit report.

The man who set up those umbrella nonprofit organizations in Texas and Oklahoma, John McNamara, had been interested in working in Louisiana as well.

In 2024, McNamara testified before a Louisiana Senate committee in favor of the law that established the new structure for funding “crisis pregnancy centers.”

He also reserved the name Louisiana Pregnancy Care Network with the Louisiana Secretary of State for a few months last year, though he didn’t end up using it. The title is similar to the nonprofits he set up elsewhere, such as the Texas Pregnancy Care Network and the Oklahoma Pregnancy Care Network.

This article was originally published by the Louisiana Illuminator, part of States Newsroom. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

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