Obria’s Abortion Fake-Out Is Working
By: Molly Osberg, Jezebel, May 15, 2019
Obria, if you’ll recall, is the network of Christian anti-abortion clinics that is currently trying to position itself as a “holistic” alternative to Planned Parenthood while publicly glossing over the fact that it does not offer abortion or contraception services. The nonprofit, after expanding some of its medical services and undergoing a slick rebrand that largely buries its anti-abortion mission, is also making a real run at public family planning funding to grow its clinics and mission.
This plan is apparently working. In May, Obria clinics in California were granted Title X funding for the first time, a realization of the nonprofit’s longstanding goals. And two reports out this week suggest that the $5.1 million earmarked by Trump’s department of Health and Human Services aren’t the only major sources of public funding Obria has managed to secure.
On Monday, the Campaign for Accountability released a detailed report on Obria’s financial history pointing out how successful its deceptive strategy has been: “Obria has been at the vanguard of [crisis pregnancy centers] trying to camouflage their religious operations in order to receive federal funding,” the group wrote. The report suggests that Obria and its earlier iterations, including a Christian homeless shelter affiliated with the group and overseen by Obria’s CEO, have misappropriated funds and misled government officials about how grants are being used.