And, just like in Pennsylvania, Real Alternatives charged Michigan subcontractors the same 3 % fee to support its operations in other states. The fees are “maybe not an illegal kickback, but it certainly seems like it could be ill-gotten, or just not in the best interest of the people the program is supposed to be serving,” Huling said.

Asked the reason for Gov. Whitmer’s veto, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Bob Wheaton told Daily Kos in an Oct. 17 email that “[f]rom MDHHS’s perspective, the program has been of questionable benefit to families and it’s been difficult for us to get data on the program to gauge its effectiveness.”

But even if Real Alternatives was operating in a completely aboveboard manner financially, the “help” the organization offers pregnant people is decidedly one-sided. With ample opportunities to look at photos of fetuses (which are inaccurately called “babies”) at all stages of development and a “Consumer Protection” page on its website that suggests that people who have abortions may experience hardships ranging from depression and “anniversary syndrome” to sexual dysfunction and complications with future pregnancies, the Real Alternatives message can be boiled down to five words: Forced childbirth good; abortion bad.

According to Huling, Real Alternatives isn’t even interested in offering realistic options for preventing future unwanted pregnancies. The organization is opposed to contraceptives. Real Alternatives’ hardline anti-choice, anti-contraceptive stance makes it part of a larger phenomena that the National Abortion Rights Action League called “The Insidious Threat to Reproductive Freedom” in a 2015 report. In fact, the misinformation on the Real Alternatives’ website is tame compared to literature from other CPCs cited in the NARAL report.

According to NARAL, “Seventy percent of CPCs investigated in Massachusetts handed out pamphlets that mischaracterized the risk of abortion. The most common pamphlet, called ‘Before You Decide,’ describes heavy bleeding, sepsis, perforation of the uterus, scarring, and death as risks of abortion without indicating their relative likelihood, which is low.”

The lies CPCs tell about abortion aren’t limited to their websites and printed materials. One Maryland NARAL investigator reported that staff at a CPC she visited tried to “intimidate her away from abortion” calling abortions “dangerous,” claiming that “many women bleed to death on the table,” and telling the investigator that “I did not want to get an abortion and kill my baby.”

Despite CPCs’ track record of misinformation and intimidation‚ and, at least in the case of Real Alternatives, financial mismanagement, the Campaign for Accountability’s Huling told Daily Kos that Michigan is one of at least 23 states with laws that support them. Until Gov. Whitmer’s veto, Michigan was one of at least 11 states providing taxpayer funds to CPCs. South Dakota requires pregnant people to visit a CPC before they’re allowed to obtain an abortion, and 20 states refer pregnant people to CPCs.

And now, thanks to Donald Trump, the federal government is jumping on the bandwagon. The New York Times reported in March that the Republican-led federal government is shifting as much as $5.1 million meant for family planning services to an anti-choice organization, which will include money to CPCs. It seems that after telling more than 14,000 lies since his inauguration, Trump is happy to pay to outsource some of the dishonesty to others.