US religious right activists with links to Trump’s White House have supported the spread of what are called ‘crisis pregnancy centres’ around the world, openDemocracy’s Tracking the Backlash project revealed this week.

There are thousands of these centres in the US where some have been previously criticised for presenting themselves as neutral health facilities while hiding their anti-abortion and religious agendas from women who are looking for help. But the global scale of these activities has not been mapped until now.

Over nine months, our team followed the global networks and spending of the Christian conservative group Heartbeat International, a pioneer of these centres in the US, and worked with undercover reporters in 18 countries to conduct the largest global investigation into their overseas activities. (Read more: Exclusive: Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide).

The results have prompted calls for action around the world. In South Africa and Mexico, officials have already promised inquiries and potential sanctions. (Read: Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘violating the law’ in South Africa).

To produce this investigation, we analysed 10 years of Heartbeat’s US financial filings. This showed how they have spent almost a million dollars around the world since 2007 – and gave us names of more than a dozen specific grantees.