Missouri Outlawed Abortion, and Now It’s Funding an Anti-Abortion Group That Works in Other States

With millions in expanded tax credits and direct state funding going to anti-abortion groups, the nonprofit Coalition Life has expanded its operations beyond Missouri and into states where the procedure is still legal.



A Coalition Life “sidewalk counselor” stands outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois. Credit:Neeta Satam, special to ProPublica Health Care

by Jeremy Kohler
Aug. 19, 5 a.m. EDT

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Since abortion became illegal in Missouri two years ago, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Coalition Life has fine-tuned its strategy. Because there are no abortion clinics in Missouri, Coalition Life operates largely outside clinics in other states where the procedure is still legal. The group’s website says it operates at one location in Kansas and five in Illinois including in Fairview Heights, about 13 miles east of St. Louis.

On its website, Coalition Life has called itself “America’s largest professional sidewalk counseling organization.” The group’s revenue has surged in recent years, thanks in part to a lucrative Missouri tax credit for pregnancy resource centers, of which it is one. Following a massive expansion of the tax credit program by the state legislature in 2019, donors to Coalition Life and similar nonprofits can receive tax credits worth 70% of their donation amount, significantly boosting the groups’ fundraising efforts across Missouri.

The tax credit has led to a growing financial cost to Missouri taxpayers, with over $11.2 million in tax credits authorized in the past year alone. Before the change, the tax credit had been capped at $3.5 million a year. When combined with the $8.6 million the state directly allocates to pregnancy centers, Missouri has become a leader in per capita investment in anti-abortion centers.

While Missouri does not contribute the most overall to anti-abortion groups — Texas, with its much larger population, leads the nation with a $140 million outlay over two years — it stands out for the investment relative to its size. Still, it pales in comparison with this year’s nearly $52 billion budget.

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