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‘The bible can be your guide but not my shackle.’
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By
Freelance Journalist
Introduction
In response to everything the Right hates 鈥揇emocrats, the LGBTQ community, diversity, gun control advocates, feminists and reproductive rights 鈥揳n anti-woke beer company kicked off 2024 with 鈥淭he Conservative Dad鈥檚 鈥 calendar.
It鈥檚 a MAGA version of Playboy鈥檚 Girls of the Southeastern Conference crossed with a bevy of Bond Girls.
There鈥檚 a woman in a short skirt and apron posing in a kitchen decorated with a crucifix; there鈥檚 a tough-looking tight-trousered broad holding two rifles; and, on the cover, a string bikini-clad Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer who in the 2022 NCAA championships tied for 5th place in the 200 meter freestyle with trans athlete Lia Thomas and hasn鈥檛 stopped about it since.
Another 鈥渞eal woman,鈥 Sara Gonzales, pictured setting alight a copy of The New York Times, evangelizes against abortion.
If any of these affluent, well-connected women actually wanted or needed an abortion, they鈥檇 have no trouble getting one.
They鈥檒l never end up at one of those 鈥淐risis Pregnancy Centers,鈥 dubious organizations which, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 鈥渞epresent themselves as legitimate reproductive health care clinics providing care for pregnant people but actually aim to dissuade people from accessing certain types of , including abortion care and even contraceptive options.鈥
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Planned Parenthood says CPCs are 鈥渞un by anti-abortion activists who have : to scare, shame, or pressure you out of getting an abortion, and to tell lies about abortion, birth control, and sexual health.鈥
CPCs which attract vulnerable, often poor, women, 鈥渄on鈥檛 provide abortion or offer a full range of health care, and they won鈥檛 give you honest facts about sexual health and your pregnancy options 鈥 their goal is to spread misinformation and propaganda,鈥 Planned Parenthood states.
Nevertheless, your Florida tax dollars support them.
$25 Million
An investigation by the Florida Center for Government Accountability (full disclosure: I sit on the board of FLCGA but am not currently involved in its journalism) revealed how CPCs use ultrasounds to guilt women into continuing a pregnancy, promising support, and using religion to pressure them into rejecting abortion, no matter what the health or economic consequences might be.
Last year, the Legislature appropriated for the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, a nonprofit that administers 鈥渟upport services鈥 for the state Department of Health, including 鈥渢esting,鈥 鈥渃ounseling,鈥 鈥渆ducation,鈥 鈥渢raining鈥 and other alleged help for pregnant women.
show that what Florida women get from state-supported CPCs is a double dose of right-wing Jesus.
Take the in Tallahassee: it鈥檚 run by a former missionary named Patti Tidwell who says she won鈥檛 hire anyone who doesn鈥檛 鈥渉ave a relationship with the Lord and love the Lord.鈥
PHIC鈥檚 website is slick and soothing, promising a 鈥渃aring environment and a professional staff that respects you and your body.鈥
It even has as abortion page, though the information provided is not exactly even-handed. There鈥檚 a picture of a sad-looking young woman and descriptions of both medical and surgical abortions, mentioning 鈥渉eavy bleeding鈥 multiple times.
The list of references include a link to 鈥渁bortion reversal,鈥 a controversial procedure most doctors call 鈥溾 citations from the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and warnings about how sad, guilty, depressed, and anxious you might feel after getting an abortion.
Many CPCs are far less subtle. The Trident, FLCGA鈥檚 news site, reports the Q-Anon types running South Lake Pregnancy and Care Center in Clermont claim COVID vaccines cause birth defects, part of some unexplained 鈥渘ew Genocide,鈥 and flatly state that abortion is 鈥渕urder.鈥
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Women can get free diapers, but only if they attend religious classes and get 鈥淏iblical counseling.鈥
FLCGA reporters spoke to a who said she was pregnant, with no insurance, and scared to death. She鈥檇 found her way to CPC Grace House in Deland where staff bullied her to give birth to the baby, prayed over her, and told her she could have baby products for free if she came back for more 鈥渃ounseling.鈥
The visit left her traumatized.
Digging through state records, The Trident discovered the state will reimburse CPCs up to $150 for the so-called counseling.
An Ungodly Grift
That鈥檚 your money.
Your money was also went to what was the most lavishly funded CPC in Florida鈥搖ntil it abruptly closed down.
Mary鈥檚 Pregnancy Resource Center in Fort Lauderdale received from the state in 2021 and 2022.
MPRC was founded in 2014 by Yohanka Reyes and her husband, dedicated to promoting religion and convincing pregnant women to have the baby, even if they were raped.
Reyes said she was raped by her stepfather and gave birth to a boy at the age of 15.
She said she was building 鈥淕od鈥檚 Kingdom.鈥
Turns out, she and her husband had also been building what looks like an ungodly grift.
FLCGA discovered MPRC operated illicitly for six years, not bothering to renew the nonprofit license required by the state, failing to file tax forms, and refusing to pay its employees.
Despite multiple liens and major IRS issues, Reyes is now living large in New York, breeding and showing pedigree St. Bernards.
The Florida Pregnancy Care Network , charged with overseeing CPCs, is packed with zealots who are on the same religious page as the people running them.
According to a Trident story, one board member named Amber Butler has said, 鈥渁bortion and homosexuality are some of the many ways people fail to meet God鈥檚 standard.鈥
Others embrace Birtherism, election denial, and fetal personhood.
Jim Kallinger, a political consultant whose clients have included , the former Alabama chief justice with a penchant for teenaged girls, is a former chair of FPCN and now lobbies for them.
He doesn鈥檛 pretend to separate church and state. He told The Trident everyone at FPCN is pro-life.
Asked about state money supporting religious activity, Kallinger insisted FPCN does not pay for religious activities at the CPCs: 鈥淭hey have medical offices where they see the women and they conduct medical procedures. Those are the areas where they get reimbursement with funds from the state. The spiritual discussions are taking place in completely different rooms. They keep it very separate.鈥
If this sounds like nonsense to you, well, it probably is 鈥攁nd possibly unconstitutional.
Florida Democratic Chair Nikki Fried told The Trident 鈥渢o be pushing religious ideology to have it intertwined with government policy in a country that is diverse in its religious freedom is a slap in the face.鈥
Misogyny is at the heart of these attempts to regulate women鈥檚 bodies: the right wing is determined to control female sexuality and, at the same time, punish women for it.
It鈥檚 disguised as faith and dressed up in Biblical language, but the result is an attack on our rights.
Maybe these self-proclaimed Christians genuinely believe women should suffer eternally for Eve鈥檚 transgression.
The MAGA Right doesn鈥檛 like women breaking out of the good old strictures of wife-and-motherhood. Refusing to continue an unwanted pregnancy is an affront to what the anti-choice movement sees as divine will.
The so-called 鈥淩eal Women of America鈥 pictured on the 鈥淐onservative Dads鈥 calendar, the hot chicks who populate male MAGA fantasies, have nothing in common with the terrified pregnant 16-year-old who knows having a baby will destroy her dreams of college.
They will never be the pregnant hotel maid who just can鈥檛 afford another kid or the woman with no medical insurance who learns that carrying her fetus to term could kill her.
Doesn鈥檛 matter if the fetus isn鈥檛 viable; doesn鈥檛 matter if the woman was raped; doesn鈥檛 matter if her health might be wrecked.
God wants you to have that baby: Shut up, push, and pray.
Originally by , 03.26.2024, under the terms of a license.