Millions of dollars for 'crisis pregnancy centers' in Missouri

By Nomin Ujiyediin,

Published June 10, 2022 at 4:00 AM CDT

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Missouri has spent millions of tax dollars to fight abortion. But a little-known part of a 2019 law also has provided huge tax credits for "crisis pregnancy centers" — a drain on state revenues that legislative oversight officials failed to forecast.

With the U.S. Supreme Court's set to hand down its decision on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban any day now, focus is turning to Missouri's "trigger law," which would automatically ban most abortions if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Missouri's 2019 legislation, however, has already allowed the state to shift millions of state dollars to various anti-abortion causes. KCUR's Brian Ellison spoke with ProPublica reporter Jeremy Kohler abouta little-known pipeline that diverts tax money to "crisis pregnancy centers,"which abortion rights activists say mislead women into thinking they provide abortion services.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love, Trevor Grandin and KCUR Studios and edited by Lisa Rodriguez and Gabe Rosenberg.

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