KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas lawmakers on Friday allowed the state Department of Finance and Administration to administer a taxpayer-funded $1 million program to provide funds to pregnancy resource centers, which are often religiously affiliated and discourage abortion while encouraging birth.

The department will start distributing the money in January, spokesman Scott Hardin said in an email.

Arkansas has more than 40 of these centers, often called “crisis pregnancy centers.” They operate independently but form a community, the Arkansas Pregnancy Network, due to their shared missions and similar services, Maria Speer, executive director of the Life Choices center in Conway, told lawmakers in August.

The Legislature passed a law in April to create the grant for the second year in a row. The first year of the grant resulted in 23 pregnancy resource centers, adoption agencies and maternity homes receiving portions of the reserved $1 million between September 2022 and January 2023.

Arkansas will start distributing $1M grant to pregnancy resource centers in January