Across the U.S., more than 2,500 crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) provide free services and counseling for women struggling with unplanned pregnancies. They outnumber abortion clinics 3 to 1 nationwide, and as some states shutter clinics after Roe’s reversal, that ratio will grow.

But when two NBC News producers visited state-funded CPCs in Texas to ask for counseling, counselors told them that abortions caused mental illness and implied abortions could also cause cancer and infertility.

The nation’s largest national obstetricians’ group, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says that’s medical misinformation.......

Established by the Texas Legislature in 2005, a program called “Alternatives to Abortion” or A2A helps fund the state’s CPCs. Texas initially spent $5 million every two years on the program, but that figure has ballooned to a record $100 million for 2022 and 2023, according to public records.

A2A’s mission is to “reduce abortions and improve pregnancy outcomes,” “improve child health and development” and “improve families’ economic self-sufficiency.” In addition to CPCs, the program funds resources like maternity homes for homeless pregnant women and adoption centers. The Texas facilities are not licensed medical providers, though some women report believing they are.