A program aimed at decreasing the number of Oklahoma women having abortions lagged in its first-year spending and has significant problems with inconsistent and incomplete data, according to an evaluation of the Choosing Childbirth Program issued by the Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative. Lawmakers who sponsored legislation expanding the program say they are unaware of the evaluation.
The program was created in 2017 to reduce abortions and improve maternal and infant health. It provides grants for education, counseling, referral coordination and material assistance.
Thirteen providers receive funding through the program, with a few providing grants to subrecipients. Those include the two biggest grantees in the program: Oklahoma Life Foundation ($5.9 million) and Oklahoma Pregnancy Care Network ($4.3 million), which had been the previous administrator.
The evaluation found that only 26% of taxpayer-allocated funds had been spent at the two-thirds mark of the first year and data collection had “high levels of missing responses on county, insurance, housing, and employment.” The poor recordkeeping created barriers to a “robust analysis of program outcomes.”
Too many questions on the intake forms were left unanswered, the report found, and some groups used the wrong forms. Evaluators had concerns about equitable service distribution based on Oklahoma County — the state’s most populous — representing 54.4% of submissions compared to .94% in Tulsa County.
“It is difficult at this time to determine the effects of the (Choosing Childbirth) program on the Oklahoma population due to lags in state and national data, insufficient amount of data in the information entered into (the tracking system) and the time required for programs to expand their capacity,” the report states.
Oklahoma lawmakers in 2024 put the program within the state health department after the previous administrator failed to meet performance goals and held onto funds too long. Lawmakers also increased the program’s budget from $8 million to $17.4 million.
The Oklahoma Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative released a report in September evaluating the program in the first year under OSDH.
Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore, sponsored Senate Bill 1503 this spring. It’s pending in the Oklahoma House and would open up program funding to out-of-state nonprofits providing virtual services. It passed the Senate 38-5 and the House Public Health Committee 5-2.
Neither of the bill’s sponsors said they had been informed of the evaluation — or even of its existence.
After the Tulsa Flyer requested an interview with an OSDH official, its communications department stated it would answer written questions.
The agency stated it is implementing the evaluation’s recommendations, including establishing minimum datasets and setting clear performance indicators. While they lagged in spending taxpayer funds, OSDH said the program spent 79% of its state’s allocation by year’s end.
Many of the subrecipients are small organizations with no experience in evaluations that require data collection and reporting, the department said.
“Year one has been a learning experience with some challenges, but with some implemented changes, OSDH expects to see more accurate and consistent data collected from all funded organizations,” the agency stated. “Many of these organizations are doing excellent work in their communities, and we hope to better these efforts in the next two reporting years of this grant cycle.”
About half the program allocation is spent on salaries, the evaluation found. The OSDH stated that isn’t unusual with counseling- and education-heavy programs, calling the salaries “very reasonable” and “not inflated.”
Other grant recipients besides the Oklahoma Life Foundation and Oklahoma Pregnancy Care Network are:
- CAP Tulsa ($250,000)
- Center for Children and Families ($350,000)
- Coalition of Oklahoma Breastfeeding Advocates ($500,000)
- Latino Community Development Agency ($790,000)
- Legacy Parenting Center ($350,000)
- LIFT Community Action Agency ($800,000)
- Lilyfield ($600,000)
- Potts Family Foundation ($1.2 million)
- Sunbeam Family Services ($750,000)
- Unity Point Counseling and Resource Center ($600,000)
- Western Plains Youth and Family Services ($750,000)
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.