from States Newsroom
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By Elisha Brown |
Hailey Allred buckles up her twins in preparation to leave Stanton Healthcare in Meridian, Idaho, on January 16, 2026. (Photo by Otto Kitsinger for States Newsroom)
Pregnant women have had an array of experiences at anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Some have decided to keep their pregnancies and felt supported, while others say they felt preached at and judged.
In the latest story for Billion Dollar Baby Bump, States Newsroom’s ongoing series about the lack of oversight at crisis pregnancy centers, Stateline reporters Sofia Resnick and Shalina Chatlani spoke to women in states with abortion bans about how they were treated at the facilities, which often lack oversight despite receiving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Hailey Allred, a mother of two based in Idaho, was 19 and newly married with no health insurance when she went to Stanton Healthcare in Meridian, Idaho, in August 2025 for an ultrasound.
She was surprised to find out that she was four weeks pregnant, given her polycystic ovary syndrome diagnosis.
Staff at the center, which is one of the few crisis pregnancy centers that has medical accreditation, sent her home with a goodie bag stocked with prenatal vitamins, a baby blanket and similar items.
“They gave me all the resources and the comfort I could find,” Allred said.
When she returned to the center, technicians said she had twins and gave her a book, tea and ginger. Multiple challenges mounted throughout her pregnancy, including a shortening cervix and liver issues.
Stanton Healthcare later referred her to a mental health counselor and recommended an OB-GYN. Her babies were born preterm at 29 weeks via C-section.
“Without them, we wouldn’t even have a nursery set up. They took me to a storage unit, and they offered to give me a dresser and a crib for our nursery. They have always been here with diapers and clothes,” Allred said. “Yes, they provided medical care, but it was also like they provided more of that emotional care as well.”
But Jessica Perigo had the opposite experience at a crisis pregnancy center in Orlando, Florida, last year.
Perigo became pregnant while living in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband that they could barely afford. Perigo took anti-depressants and knew she would have to stop if she continued her pregnancy. She also wanted to know if she had pregnancy risks, given that she lived in a state with a six-week abortion ban.
When she went to a crisis pregnancy center for a free ultrasound, she waited 90 minutes for care while workers repeatedly asked her if she wanted to join a church. Staffers did tell her the center wasn’t a clinic.
“I just wanted the ultrasound because I wanted to ease my own anxieties of, is this an ectopic pregnancy or not,” Perigo said. “They gave me so much of a runaround because they wanted to know … whether I was religious or not. That’s what their primary focus was, was I going to have an abortion?”
Perigo said workers at the center kept calling weeks after her visit, even calling her after she had her baby.
THE BEAT
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche appears at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill last month. A group of leading anti-abortion organizations sent a letter to Blanche urging him to halt the mailing of abortion pills. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)
NATIONAL
Anti-abortion groups urge attorney general to halt mailing of abortion pills: A coalition of anti-abortion organizations sent a letter to newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche asking him to use the Department of Justice’s authority to reinstate a dormant 19th-century law that conservatives say should be enforced to ban the mailing of abortion medication and related items. The groups urged Blanche to rescind a Biden-era memo that said the Comstock Act of 1873 does not prohibit the mailing of abortion drugs if the sender does not know if they will be used illegally. Blanche recently told religious leaders on a call that he would work to restrict access to abortion drugs. — Stateline
MISSOURI
Bloomberg gives $1.25M to Missouri abortion rights campaign as fundraising gap grows: Stop the Ban, a group behind an effort to defeat an anti-abortion ballot measure in Missouri, has received more than $1 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He previously donated $1 million to the campaign that steered an abortion-rights initiative most Missourians voted for in 2024. This year, voters in the state will decide on a measure that could ban abortion — and gender-affirming care for minors — in most cases. — Missouri Independent
MINNESOTA
Don Lemon challenges constitutionality of FACE Act in legal defense of church protest charges: Protesters and independent journalists, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon, are facing federal charges stemming from an anti-immigration demonstration held at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January. The Trump administration charged Lemon and others with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that bars obstruction of entry into reproductive health clinics and places of worship. Lemon’s attorneys are arguing that the FACE Act charge is unconstitutional, but abortion historian Mary Ziegler said that the argument could have “unintended consequences” for abortion clinics and houses of worship if it prevails in court. — Minnesota Reformer
SOUTH DAKOTA
Governor and attorney general appeal to defend South Dakota’s ban on abortion-pill advertising: South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden and state Attorney General Marty Jackley, both Republicans, filed an appeal in federal court last week defending a state law that bans ads for abortion pills. Nancy Turbak Berry, a former Democratic state legislator, and Mayday Health sued the Republicans this spring over the law, which is temporarily blocked as the case proceeds. “The Court has legalized the solicitation and aiding and abetting of an illegal drug and erroneously broadened the scope of the term advertising,” the appeal states. — South Dakota Searchlight
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THE PULSE
MA: Massachusetts governor signs law expanding abortion access after 24 weeks | Cape Cod Times
NY: New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces decision to freeze her eggs | The Guardian
ABORTION ACCESS IN THE U.S.
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