INDIANAPOLIS – While Indiana hospitals face closure, lawmakers are advancing Senate Concurrent Resolution 24 to legitimize anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) and justify sending them even more taxpayer dollars.
Instead of funding real medical providers, the legislature is propping up unregulated, non-medical facilities that mislead patients—all while rural hospitals and reproductive health clinics teeter on the edge of collapse. SCR 24 was voted out of the Senate on Monday, 39 – 9, by a majority party-line vote and is now headed to the House for consideration.
The crisis is real: Since the abortion ban went into effect in 2023, at least five maternity wards have closed across Indiana, with even more at risk of immediate closure with threats to Medicaid funding. A Health Management Associates study confirms that Indiana’s Medicaid reimbursement rates are the lowest among neighboring states. Meanwhile, Indiana is poised to funnel $8 million in the biennium to Real Alternatives, an out-of-state anti-abortion group with a history of financial and ethical scandals—funds that could keep hospitals open, expand labor and delivery access, and ensure real, medically sound care.
Haley Bougher, Indiana State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates:
“Hoosiers deserve real health care, not taxpayer-funded anti-abortion propaganda,” said Haley Bougher, Indiana State Director for PPAA. “With hospitals shutting down and maternal health outcomes worsening, every dollar should go toward real, accountable medical care—not politically motivated programs with no medical oversight.”
The Numbers Are Clear:
Hospitals Are Closing, Care is Disappearing
- 4 rural hospitals have closed since 2005; 7 more (13%) are at immediate risk.
- 15 rural hospitals (28%) already operate at a loss and are unable to cover costs.
- Over 700 rural hospitals – one-third of all rural hospitals in the country – are at risk of closing shortly, and over 300 are at immediate risk of closing.
- More than half of Indiana’s rural hospitals (52%) have discontinued OB services, leaving 28 communities without local labor and delivery.
- 19% of the remaining OB-capable hospitals are running at a loss—meaning further closures are imminent.
- 25 percent of counties in Indiana are designated maternity care deserts, and an additional 28 percent have low or moderate access to maternal care.
72% of Hoosiers oppose using tax dollars to prop up anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers.” Suppose Indiana lawmakers are serious about protecting public health. In that case, they must end wasteful spending on ideological programs and invest in the hospitals and providers that staff medically trained professionals and offer legitimate health care services.
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