Federal

Standing with Moms Act

Source: Congress.gov · 1,863 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create a website and online tool to provide expecting mothers with information about pregnancy-related resources. The bill directs the creation of life.gov, a public website that lists federal, state, local and private resources available to pregnant women. The website must include information on pregnancy support services, alternatives to abortion, and abortion risks. ##

Who It Affects

- Expecting mothers and pregnant women - The Department of Health and Human Services - State governments - Private organizations and nonprofits that provide pregnancy-related services - Health care providers ##

Key Provisions

- The Secretary must publish a public website called life.gov within 1 year that provides a comprehensive list of resources for pregnant women, including mental health services, pregnancy counseling, and information on alternatives to abortion (Sec. 3401(a)) - The Secretary must create an interactive portal on the Department of Health and Human Services website that uses a series of questions to give users tailored information based on their ZIP Code and needs, including information on abortion risks at all stages (Sec. 3401(b)) - The portal must list eight specific types of resources, including mentorship opportunities, health services, financial assistance, material support, mental health services, prenatal diagnostic services, abortion recovery services, and childcare resources (Sec. 3401(c)) - The Secretary cannot delegate administration of the portal to anyone below the Office of the Secretary level (Sec. 3401(d)) - The Maternal Mental Health Hotline must provide information about and links to the life.gov website, be available 24 hours a day with live chat features, and help families in every state (Sec. 3401(g)) - Resources listed cannot come from "prohibited entities," which the bill defines as organizations that perform, induce, refer for, or counsel in favor of abortions (Sec. 3401(h) and (k)(3)) - The Secretary must submit a report to Congress within 180 days of establishing the website and portal describing website traffic, user feedback, gaps in services, and suggestions for improvement (Sec. 3401(j)) ##

What Changes

If this becomes law, pregnant women will have access to a new government website and online tool designed to connect them with pregnancy-related resources in their area. The Department of Health and Human Services will need to create and maintain this website and portal. States will need to recommend local resources for inclusion on the portal based on criteria set by the Secretary, and states may apply for grants to help aggregate these resources. The Maternal Mental Health Hotline will need to add new features including live chat and information about the new website. ##

Important Definitions

- **Abortion**: Using or prescribing any instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device to intentionally kill an unborn child or prematurely end a pregnancy (with exceptions for increasing the chance of live birth, preserving life or health of the child, or removing a dead unborn child) (Sec. 3401(k)(1)) - **Prohibited Entity**: An organization, including its branches and related organizations, that performs, induces, refers for, or counsels in favor of abortions, or provides money to any other organization that does these things (Sec. 3401(k)(3)) - **Unborn Child**: An individual organism of the human species beginning at fertilization until born alive (Sec. 3401(k)(4)) ##

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text. The bill states that the website and portal must be published "not later than 1 year after the date of enactment" but does not specify a general effective date for the bill itself.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 517 To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to furnish tailored information to expecting mothers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 25, 2023 Ms. MACE (for herself, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. FALLON, Mr. LAMBORN, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, and Ms. FOXX) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com- merce A BILL To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to furnish tailored information to expecting mothers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Standing with Moms 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AWARENESS FOR EXPECTING MOTHERS. 6 The Public Health Service Act is amended by adding 7 at the end the following: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 517 IH ‘‘TITLE XXXIV—AWARENESS FOR 1 EXPECTING MOTHERS 2 ‘‘SEC. 3401. WEBSITE AND PORTAL. 3 ‘‘(a) WEBSITE.—Not later than 1 year after the date 4 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish 5 a user-friendly public website, life.gov, to provide a com- 6 prehensive list of Federal, State, local governmental, and 7 private resources available to pregnant women including— 8 ‘‘(1) resources to mental health counseling, 9 pregnancy counseling, and other prepartum and 10 postpartum services; 11 ‘‘(2) comprehensive information on alternatives 12 to abortion; 13 ‘‘(3) information about abortion risks, including 14 complications and failures; and 15 ‘‘(4) links to information on child development 16 from moment of conception. 17 ‘‘(b) PORTAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 18 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish 19 a portal on the public website of the Department of Health 20 and Human Services that— 21 ‘‘(1) through a series of questions, will furnish 22 specific tailored information to the user on what 23 pregnancy-related information they are looking for, 24 such as— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 517 IH ‘‘(A) Federal, State, local governmental, 1 and private resources that may be available to 2 the woman within her ZIP Code, including the 3 resources specified in subsection (c); and 4 ‘‘(B) risks related to abortion at all stages 5 of fetal gestation; and 6 ‘‘(2) provides for the submission of feedback on 7 how user-friendly and helpful the portal was in pro- 8 viding the tailored information the user was seeking. 9 ‘‘(c) RESOURCES.—The Federal, State, local govern- 10 mental, and private resources specified in this subsection 11 are the following: 12 ‘‘(1) Mentorship opportunities, including preg- 13 nancy help and case management resources. 14 ‘‘(2) Health and well-being services, including 15 women’s medical services such as obstetrical and 16 gynecological support services for women, abortion 17 pill reversal, breastfeeding, general health services, 18 primary care, and dental care. 19 ‘‘(3) Financial assistance, work opportunities, 20 nutrition assistance, childcare, and education oppor- 21 tunities. 22 ‘‘(4) Material or legal support, including trans- 23 portation, food, nutrition, clothing, household goods, 24 baby supplies, housing, shelters, maternity homes, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 517 IH tax preparation, legal support for child support, 1 family leave, breastfeeding protections, and custody 2 issues. 3 ‘‘(5) Recovery and mental health services, in- 4 cluding services with respect to addiction or suicide 5 intervention, intimate partner violence, sexual as- 6 sault, rape, sex trafficking, and counseling for 7 women and families surrounding unexpected loss of 8 a child. 9 ‘‘(6) Prenatal diagnostic services, including dis- 10 ability support organizations, medical interventions 11 for a baby, perinatal hospice resources, pregnancy 12 and infant loss support, and literature on pregnancy 13 wellness. 14 ‘‘(7) Healing and support services for abortion 15 survivors and their families. 16 ‘‘(8) Services providing care for children, in- 17 cluding family planning education, adoption, foster 18 care, and short-term care resources. 19 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may not del- 20 egate implementation or administration of the portal es- 21 tablished under subsection (b) below the level of the Office 22 of the Secretary. 23 ‘‘(e) FOLLOW-UP.—The Secretary shall develop a 24 plan under which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 517 IH ‘‘(1) the Secretary includes in the portal estab- 1 lished under subsection (b), a mechanism for users 2 of the portal to take an assessment through the por- 3 tal and provide consent to use the user’s contact in- 4 formation; 5 ‘‘(2) the Secretary conducts outreach via phone 6 or email to follow up with users of the portal estab- 7 lished under subsection (b) on additional resources 8 that would be helpful for the users to review; and 9 ‘‘(3) upon the request of a user of the portal for 10 specific information, after learning of the additional 11 resources through the portal, agents of the Depart- 12 ment of Health and Human Services make every ef- 13 fort to furnish specific information to such user in 14 coordination with Federal, State, local governmental, 15 and private health care providers and resources. 16 ‘‘(f) RESOURCE LIST AGGREGATION.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to criteria devel- 18 oped in subsection (e)(2), each State shall provide 19 recommendations of State, local governmental, and 20 private resources under subsection (b)(1)(A) to in- 21 clude in the portal. 22 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR MAKING RECOMMENDA- 23 TIONS.—The Secretary shall develop criteria to pro- 24 vide to the States to determine whether resources 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 517 IH recommended as described in paragraph (1) for in- 1 clusion in the portal can appear in the portal. Such 2 criteria shall include the requirement that the re- 3 source provider is not a prohibited entity and the re- 4 quirement that the resource provider has been en- 5 gaged in providing services for a minimum of 3 con- 6 secutive years. 7 ‘‘(3) GRANT PROGRAM.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 9 provide grants to States to establish or support 10 a system that aggregates the resources de- 11 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A), in accordance 12 with the criteria developed under paragraph 13 (2), and that may be coordinated, to the extent 14 determined appropriate by the State, by a 15 statewide, regionally-based, or community-based 16 public entity or private nonprofit. 17 ‘‘(B) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re- 18 ceive a grant under subparagraph (A), a State 19 shall submit an application to the Secretary at 20 such time, in such manner, and containing such 21 information as the Secretary may require, in- 22 cluding a plan for outreach and awareness ac- 23 tivities, and a list of service providers that 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 517 IH would be included in the State system sup- 1 ported by the grant. 2 ‘‘(g) MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINE.—The 3 Secretary shall ensure that the Maternal Mental Health 4 Hotline of the Health Resources and Services Administra- 5 tion— 6 ‘‘(1) disseminates information regarding, and 7 linkages to, the life.gov website and portal described 8 in subsections (a) and (b); 9 ‘‘(2) has the capacity to help families in every 10 State and community in the Nation; and 11 ‘‘(3) includes live chat features, 24 hours a day, 12 to connect individuals to the information the portal 13 hosts. 14 ‘‘(h) PROHIBITION REGARDING CERTAIN ENTI- 15 TIES.—The resources listed on the life.gov website, and 16 made available through the portal and hotline established 17 under this section may not include any resource offered 18 by a prohibited entity. 19 ‘‘(i) SERVICES IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.—The 20 life.gov website and hotline shall ensure the widest possible 21 access to services for families who speak languages other 22 than English. 23 ‘‘(j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 517 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 1 after the date on which the life.gov website and por- 2 tal are established under subsection (a), the Sec- 3 retary shall submit to Congress a report on— 4 ‘‘(A) the traffic of the website and the 5 interactive portal; 6 ‘‘(B) user feedback on the accessibility and 7 helpfulness of the website and interactive portal 8 in tailoring to the user’s needs; 9 ‘‘(C) insights on gaps in Federal, State, 10 local governmental, and private programming 11 with respect to services for pregnant and 12 postpartum women; and 13 ‘‘(D) suggestions on how to improve user 14 experience and accessibility based on user feed- 15 back and missing resources that would be help- 16 ful to include in future updates. 17 ‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The report under 18 paragraph (1) shall not include any personal identi- 19 fying information regarding individuals who have 20 used the website or portal. 21 ‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22 ‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 23 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 24 drug, or other substance or device to intentionally— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 517 IH ‘‘(A) kill the unborn child of a woman 1 known to be pregnant; or 2 ‘‘(B) prematurely terminate the pregnancy 3 of a woman known to be pregnant, with an in- 4 tention other than to— 5 ‘‘(i) increase the probability of a live 6 birth or of preserving the life or health of 7 the child after live birth; or 8 ‘‘(ii) remove a dead unborn child. 9 ‘‘(2) BORN ALIVE.—The term ‘born alive’ has 10 the meaning given such term in section 8(b) of title 11 1, United States Code. 12 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITED ENTITY.—The term ‘prohib- 13 ited entity’ means an entity, including its affiliates, 14 subsidiaries, successors, and clinics that performs, 15 induces, refers for, or counsels in favor of abortions, 16 or provides financial support to any other organiza- 17 tion that conducts such activities. 18 ‘‘(4) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 19 means an individual organism of the species homo 20 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 21 being born alive.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Feb 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H517.IH H517 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.