Longtime pro-life legal and policy advocacy firm Americans United for Life (AUL) has acquired the Center for Client Safety. AUL announced the partnership with the pro-life watchdog group on its website, calling it “a strategic step that will strengthen our ability to hold abortion providers and their facilities accountable, as well as protect women and preborn children nationwide.”
The partnership with the Center for Client Safety (CCS) will deliver enforcement power to AUL, it said, “through direct investigations that lead to real consequences for the abortion industry,” adding that the two organizations are "uniquely positioned" to ensure that pro-life laws are not only enacted but also enforced.
CCS is becoming a division of AUL to augment the effectiveness of both organizations given the continually changing abortion landscape, AUL said.
Americans United for Life has been in operation for more than 50 years, advocating for the right to life in culture, law, and policy by supporting advocates and lawmakers in the 50 U.S. states. In additional producing law and policy resources, AUL hosts educational events and provides advocacy tools. Each year publishes the annual Life List highlighting the leading pro-life states in the U.S.
The Center for Client Safety, initially known as Reprotection, has operated since 2000, investigating, reporting on, and shutting down abortion businesses to protect women and children.
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In its announcement about the partnership with CCS, AUL referenced the ever-increasing abortion pill market and the fact that the abortion industry skirts the law owing to enforcement loopholes nationwide, noting the abortion industry’s record of violating state laws and regulations and providing substandard medical care within its facilities.
AUL detailed previous CCS successes and explained how the pro-life investigative group would operate going forward in the partnership.
CCS focuses in uncovering serious violations by abortion facilities, documenting the resulting harm to women, and prompting government investigations that lead to license suspensions, facility shuttering, and regulatory reform.
CCS has led investigations resulting in the closure of multiple abortion facilities, preventing three abortion providers from practicing, and producing fines and punitive actions against abortion businesses, AUL said.
Per the 2024 CCS Impact Report CCS achieved:
- Closing two abortion facilities permanently
- Blocking two new facilities from opening
- Securing one license suspension and a permanent ban for an abortionist Forcing one abortionist into early retirement
- Creating a school policy to prevent employees from taking minors to medical appointments, including abortions
- Equipping a Governor’s Office to enforce health standards, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for abortion facilities
- Advising on new licensure regulations in two states
- Fining one abortion business for false advertising
- Restructuring two facilities' operations
In 2024 CCS published training tools, including a Client Safety Advocates resource for both centers and sidewalk counselors, and a Medical Professional’s Guide to Reporting Abortion Negligence.
CCS also introduced The Client Safety Initiative, providing a platform for women to share their negative abortion experiences and hold abortion providers accountable.
Tweet This: The Center for Client Safety joined forces with AUL because we believe collaboration makes us stronger - Americans United for Life
With the new partnership with AUL, CCS will stay operationally distinct within AUL’s structure, functioning as before but with the integration of AUL’s infrastructure and legal resources.
CCS will also retain its mission, continuing “to investigate, document, and force action by government authorities.”
CCS’s leadership team is now comprised of Amy Gehrke, who has been CCS’s Chief Impact Officer, and Christine Smith, who has been Chief Investigations Officer. Gehrke and Smith will collaborate with AUL leadership to foster the partnership.
AUL noted that it joined forces with CCS “because we believe collaboration makes us stronger.”
