State Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) and State Representative Timothy Ginter (R-Salem) have introduced a bill to encourage giving to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. House Bill 297 gives Ohioans who donate a credit on their Ohio income tax return for 50% of the amount donated.
Ohio Value Voters announced the bill in an email to supporters. In that announcement, Rep. Powell said, “This encourages community members to give out of their own pockets to support women and children in their community.”
Credits will only be given to taxpayers who owe more than the credit is worth.
Citizens who donate to abortion providers will not be not be eligible for the credit.
The bill defines a “qualifying pregnancy resource center” as a 501(c) nonprofit, “the principal purpose of which is to provide free assistance, including pregnancy tests, ultrasound, prenatal vitamins, maternity clothing, baby clothes and furniture, diapers, cribs and car seats, housing and utilities assistance, and nutritional counseling for pregnant women in carrying their pregnancies to term.”
This legislation comes at a time when other entities are trying to punish pregnancy centers because of the increase in pro-life laws being passed around the country, according to LifeSite News. Google is one such entity. They are restricting advertising for crisis pregnancy centers and prioritizing abortion providers on their search engine.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute celebrated 50 years of crisis pregnancy centers with a report in September 2018. They found that, “pregnancy centers served nearly 2 million people in the United States with free services in 2017 – an estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million.”
The report revealed that medical experts, registered nurses and sonographers, contributed more than 400,000 hours of their time to pro-life pregnancy centers in 2017. It also found that 87% of centers provide prenatal and parenting education for women.
Abortion supporters NARAL say pregnancy centers are, “Fake health centers are fake health-care clinics that lie to, shame and intentionally mislead women about their reproductive-health-care options to block them from accessing abortion care.”
NARAL and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood have ended over 61,000,000 pregnancies in America – over 471,000 so far this year and over 1.5 billion world wide. Pregnancy Centers save 300,000 babies a year according to Heartbeat International.
Pregnancy Decision Health Centers (PDHC) in Columbus, Ohio is an example of the kind of crisis pregnancy center that the bill would help. At PDHC, a woman who thinks she may be pregnant will be tested and offered an ultrasound. Ultrasounds are administered by a nurse and reviewed by a doctor. They also provide testing for sexually transmitted infections, specifically Chlamydia and Gonorrhea. All the services offered at PDHC are provided free of charge.
House Bill 297 has been assigned to the House Ways and Means Committee. Representatives Powell and Ginter have 14 Republican co-sponsors.
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
