AmeriCorps’ abortion escorts broke federal rules
TheHill: Several members of the national service program AmeriCorps recently escorted young pregnant women to abortion clinics in a “direct violation” of federal funding rules, a government watchdog will report Tuesday.
The volunteers served as clinic escorts, also known as “abortion doulas,” in parts of New York City, according to a source familiar with the report from a federal inspector general’s office. A summary of the report will be published online Tuesday.
In their roles, such volunteers provide emotional support to women seeking abortions, as well as transportation to and from the clinics if needed. That service is prohibited under the language of federal grants that helps fund the program, the source said.
The violation took place among “a few volunteer members” at one of the 38 community health centers that works with AmeriCorps’s health branch, according to a statement from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), which oversees AmeriCorps’ health volunteers.
Dave Taylor, chief operating officer of NACHC, said in a statement to The Hill that the group’s leadership “self-reported the issue to the proper authorities” immediately after learning about the potential violations.
“We take this matter seriously,” Taylor said, adding that the NACHC has cooperated with the White House’s community service office and the watchdog group throughout the investigation. He declined to provide any details about the investigation, but said his organization had received a copy of the full report.
The group said its response to the investigation has been far-reaching. Taylor said it quickly took steps to stop the program, while also requiring program staff to be retrained on “all relevant rules and regulations related to AmeriCorps prohibited activities.”
“We moved immediately to cease the activity in question, and suspended the identified site’s AmeriCorps members for a period until they and their site supervisors were retrained and revised member service contracts were reviewed and signed,” Taylor wrote in a statement.
The group also revised the contracts of 500 other partners “to prevent future misinterpretations.”
AmeriCorps is a federally funded community service program with about 80,000 volunteers nationally. The program is managed by the White House Corporation for National and Community Service, which received about $1.1 billion in federal funds last year.
**** In 2009, AllGov: Abortion Referral Prohibited for AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps became the center of media attention when the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act passed, tripling AmeriCorps’ size and allotting $5.7 billion in federal funding for the community service programs it provides. Few news sources noticed one controversial stipulation that was added to the bill: the prohibition of several activities, among them, abortion referral.
Beginning on October 1, AmeriCorps’ staff and members will be prohibited from “providing abortion services or referrals for receipt of such services.” In the past, AmeriCorps members have joined with clinics that offer abortion services and partnered with Planned Parenthood chapters to work on public health education topics. The new stipulation will allow members to volunteer or provide their services on their own time, but not while affiliated with AmeriCorps, itself.Also included in the list of prohibited activities: engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; assisting, promoting, or deterring union organization; engaging in religious instruction and conducting worship services.
