Pregnancy center bill would impose disclosures no other NC nonprofit faces

A bill filed last week by North Carolina House Democrats would strip $6.75 million in recurring state funding from a network of pro-life pregnancy care centers and mandate disclosures on those that continue receiving public funds. Those requirements would not apply to any other state-funded nonprofit in North Carolina.

House Bill 1120, Financial Effectiveness and Transparency Act, would redirect funding currently flowing to Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, an umbrella nonprofit that distributes state appropriations to crisis pregnancy centers. The money would instead go to three programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services: the Nurse-Family Partnership, the Healthy Beginnings prenatal care program, and the Safe Sleep NC initiative.

The bill would also require any pregnancy center receiving state money to file annual disclosures. Those would include revenue breakdowns by donor type, expense reports following IRS Form 990 categories, staff licensure status, client counts by service type, and inventory records of items provided to clients such as diapers, car seats, and formula.

At a press conference on May 5, the bill’s primary sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Julie von Haefen of Wake County, said the bill is focused on fiscal accountability rather than ideological opposition.

“This really isn’t about what these centers believe,” she said. “It’s about what they owe the taxpayers who fund them.”

Under questioning at the press conference, von Haefen declined to extend that accountability principle to all state-funded nonprofits. Asked whether she would support similar disclosure requirements for any nonprofit receiving directed grants from the legislature, von Haefen said, “I think so. I’m not going to speak a blanket statement for everything.”

Other speakers at the press conference framed the bill in sharper terms. Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, a Unitarian Universalist minister with Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Freedom, tied state funding for pregnancy centers to “the legacy of Christian nationalism” and described the General Assembly’s majority party as “the architects of this health care crisis.”

Existing North Carolina law already imposes uniform reporting and audit oversight requirements on every nonprofit receiving state grant funds, set out in G.S. 143C-6-23. HB 1120 would add a separate set of disclosure requirements that apply only to crisis pregnancy centers. The bill’s definition of a crisis pregnancy center excludes hospitals, ambulatory surgical facilities, and clinics that perform abortions.

Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition, called the bill an “unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment’s freedom of association.”

In a statement to Carolina Journal, Fitzgerald said that demands for donor-related financial information create a “chilling effect” that deters supporters from associating with the centers. She pointed to a unanimous US Supreme Court ruling issued April 29 in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport, which involved a New Jersey subpoena seeking pregnancy center donor information.

“Pregnancy Care Centers already comply with robust disclosure requirements,” Fitzgerald said. “Rep. von Haefen’s bill can only be interpreted as an unconstitutional attempt to harass Pregnancy Care Centers and try to shut them down.”

Von Haefen, who has filed similar legislation for the past several legislative sessions, acknowledged at the press conference that HB 1120 is unlikely to advance. “The majority party in this building doesn’t seem to have much interest in having any kind of… transparency around this money,” she said. 

The bill was referred April 30 to the House Rules Committee, where most measures from the minority party are not heard.

The legislation tracks model language von Haefen said she helped develop with the Public Leadership Institute, a national progressive policy organization that has produced similar bills for legislators in other states.

Funding for crisis pregnancy centers has been at issue in this year’s stalled budget negotiations. The House budget passed last year would reduce pregnancy center funding by $750,000 to $6 million, while the Senate’s proposed spending plan preserves the existing $6.75 million. The two chambers have not reached a final budget agreement.

“Pregnancy center bill would impose disclosures no other NC nonprofit faces” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.