Several years ago, Jean Marie Davis was a human trafficking victim suffering abuse, rape and murder attempts by various pimps. She was heavily addicted to hard drugs and eventually reached a point where she sought to end her life by overdosing. Even though she was losing significant weight from the intake of drugs, her belly kept growing, and the hard truth soon became clear — she was pregnant with nowhere to turn.
As she tells her story, she reached out to a local pregnancy resource center and was provided with concern, compassion and enough resources to abandon her former life forever. Although her struggle was a difficult one, her journey to motherhood represents the story of thousands of women across the country, including in Maryland, who turn to pregnancy resource centers for help during crisis days in early motherhood.
You may ask then: Why is the Biden administration working to limit funding for pregnancy resource centers?
On Oct. 2, 2023, President Joe Biden’s Department of Health, and Human Services (HHS) proposed regulations that would bar pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) from receiving funding under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF funds are granted to states as block grants, which are in turn given to organizations that:
- Assist needy families;
- Help needy families achieve self-sufficiency and break free from reliance on welfare benefits;
- Reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies;
- And promote the formation of two-parent families.
Here in Maryland, pregnancy resource centers strive, with great success, to fulfill all four pillars of the TANF mission. And in my own congressional district, residents have access to several of these organizations. For instance, the Pregnancy Care Clinic of the Eastern Shore in Salisbury provides resources to mothers in need, including maternity and pregnancy supplies. This pregnancy center, along with the Cecil Crisis Pregnancy Center in Elkton and others, also help prepare men for the challenges of fatherhood.
There is no question that organizations like these are a vital lifeline to women who seek alternatives to abortion, assistance with childrearing expenses or simply information about choices available to them. That’s why, in recent polling in Maryland, over three-quarters of voters support PRCs.
Mostly staffed by volunteers, not just here in Maryland, but across America, approximately 3,000 PRCs provide countless free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, diapers, clothing and support to mothers in need. They also provide material resources and parenting skills classes to expectant parents. By offering meaningful resources and compassion, PRCs help women who may view abortion as their only option.
Since its establishment, TANF funds have been prohibited from being used for abortion purposes. Yet Planned Parenthood– America’s largest abortion provider, with 7 locations in Maryland, receives TANF funds from Biden’s HHS. This occurs despite the fact that clear majorities of Americans continue to believe that taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund abortion. Those TANF funds should be used for pregnant mothers in need who deserve compassion, concern and to know that they have choices other than abortion — exactly what PRCs provide.
As I join my colleagues in Washington this month to vote on spending packages, advocating to protect the TANF program from the Biden Administration’s heinous overreach will be among my top priorities.
Andy Harris (X: @repandyharrismd) is a Republican representing Maryland’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
