Official Summaries

Standing with Moms Act

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to disseminate information about pregnancy-related resources, including information about abortion risks and alternatives.

Specifically, HHS must create a public website called life.gov that lists such resources that are available through federal, state, and local governments and private entities.

Additionally, HHS must create on its existing website a portal that provides a user, based on the user's responses to a series of questions, tailored information about pregnancy resources available in the user's zip code and risks related to abortion. HHS must develop a plan to conduct follow-up outreach to users of the portal (if the user consents to the outreach). States must recommend resources that meet criteria set by HHS for inclusion in the portal. HHS may award grants to states to establish or support a system that aggregates resources to include in the portal.

Further, the Health Resources and Services Administration must share information about the new website and portal through the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline.

HHS must also ensure that the new website and hotline are available to families who speak languages other than English.

The new website, portal, and hotline may not include resources provided by entities that (1) perform, induce, refer for, or counsel in favor of abortions; or (2) financially support such entities.

The bill also requires HHS to report on traffic to the new website and portal, gaps in services available to pregnant and postpartum individuals, and related matters.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 688 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 688

   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 23, 2025

   Ms. Mace introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Standing with Moms Act''.

SEC. 2. AWARENESS FOR EXPECTING MOTHERS.

    The Public Health Service Act is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

             ``TITLE XXXIV--AWARENESS FOR EXPECTING MOTHERS

``SEC. 3401. WEBSITE AND PORTAL.

    ``(a) Website.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this section, the Secretary shall publish a user-friendly public 
website, life.gov, to provide a comprehensive list of Federal, State, 
local governmental, and private resources available to pregnant women 
including--
            ``(1) resources to mental health counseling, pregnancy 
        counseling, and other prepartum and postpartum services;
            ``(2) comprehensive information on alternatives to 
        abortion;
            ``(3) information about abortion risks, including 
        complications and failures; and
            ``(4) links to information on child development from moment 
        of conception.
    ``(b) Portal.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this section, the Secretary shall publish a portal on the public 
website of the Department of Health and Human Services that--
            ``(1) through a series of questions, will furnish specific 
        tailored information to the user on what pregnancy-related 
        information they are looking for, such as--
                    ``(A) Federal, State, local governmental, and 
                private resources that may be available to the woman 
                within her ZIP Code, including the resources specified 
                in subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) risks related to abortion at all stages of 
                fetal gestation; and
            ``(2) provides for the submission of feedback on how user-
        friendly and helpful the portal was in providing the tailored 
        information the user was seeking.
    ``(c) Resources.--The Federal, State, local governmental, and 
private resources specified in this subsection are the following:
            ``(1) Mentorship opportunities, including pregnancy help 
        and case management resources.
            ``(2) Health and well-being services, including women's 
        medical services such as obstetrical and gynecological support 
        services for women, abortion pill reversal, breastfeeding, 
        general health services, primary care, and dental care.
            ``(3) Financial assistance, work opportunities, nutrition 
        assistance, childcare, and education opportunities.
            ``(4) Material or legal support, including transportation, 
        food, nutrition, clothing, household goods, baby supplies, 
        housing, shelters, maternity homes, tax preparation, legal 
        support for child support, family leave, breastfeeding 
        protections, and custody issues.
            ``(5) Recovery and mental health services, including 
        services with respect to addiction or suicide intervention, 
        intimate partner violence, sexual assault, rape, sex 
        trafficking, and counseling for women and families surrounding 
        unexpected loss of a child.
            ``(6) Prenatal diagnostic services, including disability 
        support organizations, medical interventions for a baby, 
        perinatal hospice resources, pregnancy and infant loss support, 
        and literature on pregnancy wellness.
            ``(7) Healing and support services for abortion survivors 
        and their families.
            ``(8) Services providing care for children, including 
        family planning education, adoption, foster care, and short-
        term care resources.
    ``(d) Administration.--The Secretary may not delegate 
implementation or administration of the portal established under 
subsection (b) below the level of the Office of the Secretary.
    ``(e) Follow-Up.--The Secretary shall develop a plan under which--
            ``(1) the Secretary includes in the portal established 
        under subsection (b), a mechanism for users of the portal to 
        take an assessment through the portal and provide consent to 
        use the user's contact information;
            ``(2) the Secretary conducts outreach via phone or email to 
        follow up with users of the portal established under subsection 
        (b) on additional resources that would be helpful for the users 
        to review; and
            ``(3) upon the request of a user of the portal for specific 
        information, after learning of the additional resources through 
        the portal, agents of the Department of Health and Human 
        Services make every effort to furnish specific information to 
        such user in coordination with Federal, State, local 
        governmental, and private health care providers and resources.
    ``(f) Resource List Aggregation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Pursuant to criteria developed in 
        subsection (e)(2), each State shall provide recommendations of 
        State, local governmental, and private resources under 
        subsection (b)(1)(A) to include in the portal.
            ``(2) Criteria for making recommendations.--The Secretary 
        shall develop criteria to provide to the States to determine 
        whether resources recommended as described in paragraph (1) for 
        inclusion in the portal can appear in the portal. Such criteria 
        shall include the requirement that the resource provider is not 
        a prohibited entity and the requirement that the resource 
        provider has been engaged in providing services for a minimum 
        of 3 consecutive years.
            ``(3) Grant program.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary may provide grants 
                to States to establish or support a system that 
                aggregates the resources described in subsection 
                (b)(1)(A), in accordance with the criteria developed 
                under paragraph (2), and that may be coordinated, to 
                the extent determined appropriate by the State, by a 
                statewide, regionally-based, or community-based public 
                entity or private nonprofit.
                    ``(B) Applications.--To be eligible to receive a 
                grant under subparagraph (A), a State shall submit an 
                application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
                manner, and containing such information as the 
                Secretary may require, including a plan for outreach 
                and awareness activities, and a list of service 
                providers that would be included in the State system 
                supported by the grant.
    ``(g) Maternal Mental Health Hotline.--The Secretary shall ensure 
that the Maternal Mental Health Hotline of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration--
            ``(1) disseminates information regarding, and linkages to, 
        the life.gov website and portal described in subsections (a) 
        and (b);
            ``(2) has the capacity to help families in every State and 
        community in the Nation; and
            ``(3) includes live chat features, 24 hours a day, to 
        connect individuals to the information the portal hosts.
    ``(h) Prohibition Regarding Certain Entities.--The resources listed 
on the life.gov website, and made available through the portal and 
hotline established under this section may not include any resource 
offered by a prohibited entity.
    ``(i) Services in Different Languages.--The life.gov website and 
hotline shall ensure the widest possible access to services for 
families who speak languages other than English.
    ``(j) Reporting Requirements.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date 
        on which the life.gov website and portal are established under 
        subsection (a), the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 
        on--
                    ``(A) the traffic of the website and the 
                interactive portal;
                    ``(B) user feedback on the accessibility and 
                helpfulness of the website and interactive portal in 
                tailoring to the user's needs;
                    ``(C) insights on gaps in Federal, State, local 
                governmental, and private programming with respect to 
                services for pregnant and postpartum women; and
                    ``(D) suggestions on how to improve user experience 
                and accessibility based on user feedback and missing 
                resources that would be helpful to include in future 
                updates.
            ``(2) Confidentiality.--The report under paragraph (1) 
        shall not include any personal identifying information 
        regarding individuals who have used the website or portal.
    ``(k) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Abortion.--The term `abortion' means the use or 
        prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or other 
        substance or device to intentionally--
                    ``(A) kill the unborn child of a woman known to be 
                pregnant; or
                    ``(B) prematurely terminate the pregnancy of a 
                woman known to be pregnant, with an intention other 
                than to--
                            ``(i) increase the probability of a live 
                        birth or of preserving the life or health of 
                        the child after live birth; or
                            ``(ii) remove a dead unborn child.
            ``(2) Born alive.--The term `born alive' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 8(b) of title 1, United States Code.
            ``(3) Prohibited entity.--The term `prohibited entity' 
        means an entity, including its affiliates, subsidiaries, 
        successors, and clinics that performs, induces, refers for, or 
        counsels in favor of abortions, or provides financial support 
        to any other organization that conducts such activities.
            ``(4) Unborn child.--The term `unborn child' means an 
        individual organism of the species homo sapiens, beginning at 
        fertilization, until the point of being born alive.''.
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