Conservative lawmakers in multiple states are pushing legislation drafted by an anti-abortion advocacy group to increase protections for crisis pregnancy centers, organizations that provide some health-related services but also work to dissuade women from having abortions.
The legislation would prohibit state and local governments from requiring crisis pregnancy centers to perform abortions, provide referrals for abortion services, or inform patients about such services or contraception options. It also would allow crisis pregnancy centers to sue the violating government entity.
Wyoming lawmakers passed a version of the Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression Act, or CARE Act, on March 4. Other versions have advanced in Kansas and Oklahoma this year. One was signed into law in Montana in 2025. The CARE Act is “model legislation” created by the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-abortion, conservative Christian legal advocacy group.
A similar proposal, the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act, was introduced in Congress last year but hasn’t moved out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Wyoming bill says that pregnancy centers, many of which are affiliated with religious organizations, need legal protection after facing “unprecedented attacks” following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. It says that several state legislatures have introduced bills that would undermine the centers’ freedom of speech and association rights. Opponents of these centers say they falsely present themselves to consumers as medical clinics, though they are not subject to state and federal laws that protect patients in medical facilities.
“Across the country, government officials are increasingly, increasingly targeting pregnancy care centers,” Valerie Berry, executive director of the LifeChoice Pregnancy Care Center in Cheyenne, said at a February legislative hearing on the Wyoming b …