Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch Update
We are monitoring recent developments in the unregulated pregnancy clinic (UPC) industry, including evidence of data privacy violations and increasing reports of financial mismanagement.
1. A women’s health clinic in Massachusetts is accusing the unregulated pregnancy clinic next door of stealing private patient information. According to the Boston Globe, Four Women Health Services LLC filed a lawsuit accusing UPC “Attleboro’s Women Health Center” of hacking their scheduling platforms and redirecting their patients to the UPC instead of the health clinic. The Massachusetts lawsuit alleges the Attleboro UPC “‘breached Four Women’s electronic platforms to access confidential patient-client communications’ and then ‘used the intercepted communications to contact Four Women patients directly for the purpose of preventing them from accessing lawful reproductive healthcare.’” If true, this is a gross violation of women’s privacy. This revelation also begs the question: are other UPCs engaging in this practice?
2. North Carolina State Representative Julie von Haefen visited an unregulated pregnancy center and told NC Newsline the UPC refused to provide her requested information. The North Carolina legislature has appropriated over $28 million in state taxpayer funds to UPCs since 2021, without meaningful accountability or assessment of the impact of these groups or this taxpayer investment. Rep. von Haefen expressed concern Raleigh UPC “Gateway Women’s Care” staff refused to share their client intake forms and sensitive information they collect from clients.
3. The leader of an unregulated pregnancy clinic in Missouri was accused of abusive behavior by former supporters. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s report, a former client, public supporter and board member of the ThriVe UPC and her husband sent letters to ThriVe board members outlining “what the couple alleged were years of emotional and spiritual abuse by ThriVe’s longtime president, Bridget VanMeans. The Leus say VanMeans traumatized their family, encouraging them to separate and almost divorce.” Since then, former and current employees of the St. Louis UPC have raised serious concerns, prompting board members to resign and long-time supporters to sever their ties. ThriVe receives taxpayer funding; the state appropriated over $8.5 million and authorized a tax credit worth another $11 million to UPCs in the past year, with little apparent oversight. Meanwhile, former and current ThriVe employees allege extensive mismanagement, including “money is wasted on lavish gifts for donors and outings for upper management, while the clinics deal with outdated computers, broken doors and locks, poor lighting, old ultrasound equipment…”
4.The Arizona Capitol Times covered the rise of unregulated pregnancy clinics in
Arizona following the fall of Roe and the surge in taxpayer dollars supporting them, featuring ties between UPCs in the state and an extremist right-wing group: “It was Freedom Night in America, a monthly event held by the religious arm of Turning Point USA, a controversial youth activist group that has grown into one of the most influential forces in the conservative movement. This particular service announced a partnership between Turning Point and Choices Pregnancy Center, which operates three of Arizona’s 40-plus crisis pregnancy centers…“