HHS launches ‘Moms’ website directing visitors to anti-abortion ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, ‘One in three Americans are under-babied.’
On Mother’s Day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched Moms.gov, a website that promises “Resources, Information, and Help for New and Expecting Mothers.” A subheading on the site’s landing page says, “Addressing the needs of mothers and fathers who face difficult or unexpected pregnancies and ensuring the wellbeing of mothers and the health of American families.”
The site offers two options to people who visit: a link to Federally Qualified Health Centers and a link to Pregnancy Centers.
The health centers link takes visitors to a government website through which they can search for federally funded health centers under the HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration.
The pregnancy centers link takes visitors to Option Line.
Option Line is a helpline operated by Heartbeat International, a Christian organization that runs the largest network of “crisis pregnancy centers” in the nation.
The vast majority of crisis pregnancy centers are faith-based organizations that present themselves as healthcare clinics, offering free reproductive health services, such as sexually transmitted disease screenings and pregnancy tests.
Critics and reproductive rights advocates say the centers more frequently provide deceptive or medically inaccurate information aimed at discouraging people from seeking or obtaining abortions or using contraceptives.
Option Line allows visitors to connect directly to a CPC and offers a 24/7 chat or text helpline.
“As part of a pro-life, pro-family administration, HHS is committed to delivering critical tools to help parents foster healthy pregnancies, strengthen young families, and create brighter futures for their children,” HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an interview with Mother Jones. “The pregnancy centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) [which receive federal funding to provide primary care for underserved communities] listed on the website provide supportive services to expecting mothers.”
Members of President Donald Trump’s administration joined him for a press conference at the White House to launch the site and discuss it and a Department of Labor rule aimed at expanding employer-provided fertility benefits. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said at the press conference: “Let me speak a little about the reality that one in three Americans are under-babied. What does ‘under-babied’ mean? That means that you either don’t have any children or you have less children than you would normally want to have.” Trump proclaimed himself to be the “father of fertility.”
Andrea Swartzendruber, an associate professor at the University of Georgia College of Public Health who tracks CPCs, told the American Independent in a statement, “Governments have a responsibility to promote and protect residents’ health and wellbeing. EVERYONE, without exception, including people with unexpected and chronic difficult pregnancies and people experiencing infertility — people the ‘moms.gov’ website appears to specifically target — can and should be able to make their own bodily decisions.
“The Administration’s affiliations and resulting positions and actions and websites have been clear. In the past week, administration [made] nonsensical and clearly disrespectful ‘under-babied’ comments and released moms.gov, which includes references to crisis pregnancy center (CPCs) and affiliated organizations,” Swartzendruber continued. “Public health and medical organizations warn that [CPC] organizations disregard medical evidence and standards. Instead, they prioritize and aim to evangelize their conservative Christian beliefs and divert people from accessing evidence-based healthcare services.”
