I am writing about the article that was in the Sept. 3 Butler Eagle, entitled “Pennsylvania will end funding for anti-abortion counseling centers.” This title, and many comments in the article are misleading.

Gov. (Josh) Shapiro is canceling the funding contract for a program called Real Alternatives. Real Alternatives provides funding for Pregnancy Care Centers across the state and has done so for over 27 years. They are not “anti-abortion centers.” They are centers that provide care for pregnant women and newborn babies for at least one year after birth.

If you have never visited a Pregnancy Care Center, you may not realize that they provide social, emotional, financial and material help to women during their pregnancy and afterward. Real Alternatives also funds maternity homes for women who need a place to live while pregnant.

Real Alternatives has helped to fund about 350,000 women at 1.9 million office visits at more than 70 Pregnancy Care Centers since the mid-1990s. In the state of Pennsylvania, there are more Pregnancy Care Centers than there are abortion facilities.

Gov. Shapiro is quoted in this article as saying, “We will ensure women in this Commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve.” Maybe Gov. Shapiro needs to visit a Pregnancy Care Center to see the reproductive health care that women receive there.

Hopefully, our Pennsylvania legislators will find a way to reinstate the Real Alternatives funding.

Respectfully,

Gretchen Cararie

Valencia