A new study is putting to rest the myth that abortion providers like Planned Parenthood dominate women’s health care.
A recent analysis by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a pro-life think tank, found that community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by a 15-to-1 ratio.
The study concluded that there are a total of 8,810 community health centers compared with just 579 Planned Parenthood clinics in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
“With research showing that nearly 70% of women who had abortions described them as unwanted or inconsistent with their preferences and values, we know that many women are looking for better options,” said Tessa Cox, a lead researcher on the study, adding:
Community health centers give those options, providing care in underserved communities and filling critical health care gaps. Women deserve comprehensive care from providers who offer real health care, not abortion.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., cited the new research in a recent speech at a Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gala.
“I’m so grateful that SBA and the Charlotte Lozier Institute have been so instrumental in raising awareness about these important centers, which provide comprehensive care for the vulnerable, and you know what, they outnumber big abortion providers 15 to 1, so that’s something we can celebrate,” Johnson noted.
Cox told The Daily Signal that the study arrives amid discussion in Congress of defunding Planned Parenthood, which received about $700 million in federal funding in 2024.
“[W]e wanted to provide some estimates of all of the community health centers around the country that offer women’s health, and then compare them to Planned Parenthood, which is the largest abortion chain, to really provide that context as people were thinking about what are the options for where women can get care,” she explained.
Cox said she surmised there would be a significant disparity, but was surprised by the size of the gap.
“There are so many of these federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics that I knew that we would have, that we would count a large number of them, but I didn’t realize it was going to be that large of a gap,” she said.
The community health centers that the Charlotte Lozier Institute counted toward the study are institutions that received federal funding.
“The federally qualified health centers get a federal grant or are certified by [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services], and then rural health clinics get special Medicare reimbursement for operating in underserved rural areas,” she explained.
Cox highlighted the fact that these clinics provide a wide range of services for people in need.
“There’s this whole universe of them, and they provide care for the whole family—a whole, huge range of services, everything from family medicine to behavioral health, pediatrics, dental care, really, everything in between.”
For the study, however, the Charlotte Lozier Institute zeroed in on the clinics that definitively offered services specific to women in addition to other services they might provide for men and children.
“[W]e reviewed all their websites, made a bunch of phone calls and crushed the numbers to estimate how many are offering women care, family planning, prenatal care, [and] other services that are specifically for women,” Cox said.
She noted that the 8,810 community health centers exclude some important additional pro-life services.
“This doesn’t even include all of the pro-life pregnancy centers around the country, the [approximately] 3,000 pregnancy centers, and it doesn’t include just your average doctor who accepts Medicaid, who serves low-income patients, but just isn’t certified as a federally qualified health center or rural health clinic,” she concluded.
Even so, Cox stressed that there’s more work to be done to bring better health care to expectant mothers.
“There’s always a need for more pregnancy centers and making sure that the health care is accessible to moms and babies and families when they need it,” she said.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
