[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6503 Introduced in House (IH)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6503
To facilitate services and support to prevent the abandonment of women
and children by alleviating the physical, financial, social, emotional,
and other difficulties that may be encountered during pregnancy and
childrearing.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 8, 2016
Mr. Fortenberry introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee
on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To facilitate services and support to prevent the abandonment of women
and children by alleviating the physical, financial, social, emotional,
and other difficulties that may be encountered during pregnancy and
childrearing.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Care for Life
Act''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Purpose; findings.
TITLE I--PREGNANCY AND PARENTING SUPPORT SERVICES
Sec. 101. Pregnancy and parenting support services.
Sec. 102. Incentives for Workplace Solutions Awareness Campaign.
TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Sec. 201. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 202. Fund for the improvement of postsecondary educational
establishments.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE; FINDINGS.
(a) Purpose.--This Act seeks to achieve a consistent standard of
informing newly pregnant women of all services and support that are
available to them and to ensure that such women are not abandoned.
Women at the point of learning about an unplanned pregnancy often ask
themselves what society will to do support them. A myriad of services
and support is available, but often pregnant women, and even providers,
are unaware of such services and support. The purpose of this Act is to
ensure that newly pregnant women are aware of all the services and
support that are available to them and this Act furthers the authority
to make specialized grants in this regard.
(b) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Many women do not know where to turn for available
assistance during pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing,
particularly when facing financial, social, emotional, and
other life challenges.
(2) Women who are pregnant and in fear of being abandoned
during pregnancy should have access to available local, State,
and Federal governmental, as well as civil society, pregnancy
and parenting resources.
(3) In a study of how women in the United States face
challenging circumstances during pregnancy that affect a
woman's willingness to carry a child to term, research shows
that of women who do not carry their child to term--
(A) 44 percent are college-aged;
(B) 61 percent have at least one child;
(C) 69 percent are facing economic challenges;
(D) 75 percent feel they cannot afford a child; and
(E) 75 percent say that having a baby would
interfere with work, school, or the ability to care for
other dependents.
(4) When a woman discovers she is pregnant while facing
physical, financial, social, emotional, and other life
challenges, the people around her can help to mitigate anxiety
in the face of uncertainty by providing practical support with
day-to-day needs associated with pregnancy, birth, and
motherhood, particularly in the context of her concerns about--
(A) family, paternity, and community support during
pregnancy and following the birth of a child or
children;
(B) securing opportunities that a woman may
require, including the completion of education that
leads to employment; and
(C) workplaces that accommodate pregnant and
parenting women.
(5) Often pregnant women are unaware of the support that
may be available to them from private and public sources at the
local, State, and national levels.
TITLE I--PREGNANCY AND PARENTING SUPPORT SERVICES
SEC. 101. PREGNANCY AND PARENTING SUPPORT SERVICES.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that women
who are pregnant and fear being abandoned under difficult life
circumstances, and recipients of care funded through title X of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300 et seq.), title XX of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397 et seq.), and other Federal, State,
and local health care programs, should be aware of the services
available, during and after pregnancy, that will support them while
carrying their children to live birth as well as supporting women who
are raising their children following birth or giving their children up
for adoption.
(b) Support Services.--Part D of title III of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 330F as section 330F-1; and
(2) by inserting after section 330E the following:
``SEC. 330F. PREGNANCY AND PARENTING SUPPORT SERVICES.
``(a) Database.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop and maintain
a comprehensive, publicly accessible, and user friendly
database, to be known as the Pregnant and Parenting Women's
Care Information Service, to serve as a consolidated source of
information on public and private service providers that
address the concerns of pregnant women through the provision of
pregnancy and parenting support services.
``(2) Information to be included.--The database developed
under paragraph (1) shall include a list, by State and
locality, of qualified providers including, for each listed
provider--
``(A) Web sites and other relevant sources of
information about such provider;
``(B) as applicable and available--
``(i) contact information for such
provider; and
``(ii) the number of years such provider
has provided pregnancy and parenting support
services; and
``(C) information on the services offered by such
provider targeted towards pregnant and parenting women,
including the rating and reviews collected under
subsection (b)(3).
``(b) Input; Information.--In developing and maintaining the
database under subsection (a), the Secretary shall--
``(1) seek the input of--
``(A) qualified providers; and
``(B) relevant State officials;
``(2) identify the complete list of Federal programs that
provide pregnancy and parenting support services; and
``(3) create a process to collect from women ratings and
reviews of qualified providers listed in the database based on
the interactions of such women with such providers.
``(c) Best Practices.--
``(1) Annual review.--The Secretary shall conduct an annual
review of best practices in pregnancy and parenting support
services nationwide.
``(2) Input.--In conducting each annual review under
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--
``(A) gather input from qualified providers listed
in the database developed under subsection (a) and
experts described in subsection (b)(1), including
experts and providers representing--
``(i) State and local governments;
``(ii) the private sector; and
``(iii) prenatal and parenting care
centers; and
``(B) in gathering such input, encourage such
providers and experts--
``(i) to share information on best
practices described in paragraph (1); and
``(ii) to identify difficulties facing
pregnant and parenting women and to develop
best practices to address such difficulties.
``(d) Toll-Free Number.--The Secretary shall enter into a contract,
through the use of competitive procedures, with an entity to establish
and operate a toll-free number to provide women with referrals for
obtaining pregnancy and parenting support services, including services
to support mental and emotional health.
``(e) Healthy Birth and Healthy Life Grants.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may award competitive
grants to providers listed in the database developed under
subsection (a) to develop best practices for communities to
identify optimal ways to provide pregnancy and parenting
support services.
``(2) Supplement not supplant.--The Secretary may award a
grant to a provider under this subsection only if the provider
agrees that the grant will be used to supplement, and not
supplant, pregnancy and parenting support services.
``(f) Prenatal Care Grants to Academic Medical Centers.--The
Secretary may award competitive grants to academic medical centers for
the exclusive purpose of having individuals affiliated with such
academic medical center with expertise in pregnancy and parenting and
accompanying social services, including patient advocates, accomplish
the following activities:
``(1) Deliver specialized training in pregnancy and
parenting support services.
``(2) Develop and implement programs to train individuals
to deliver such specialized training.
``(3) Seek input from women who have experienced pregnancy
to develop best practices for providers serving such women and
advice for other women experiencing pregnancy.
``(g) No Duplication of Effort.--The Secretary shall ensure that
the programs and activities authorized or required by this section are
not duplicated by other programs and activities of the Department of
Health and Human Services.
``(h) Prohibition Against Funding Discriminatory Entities.--
``(1) Rule.--No Federal funds may be made available to a
Federal agency or program, or to a State or local government,
if such agency, program, or government subjects any
institutional or individual health care entity to
discrimination on the basis that the health care entity does
not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for
abortions.
``(2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `health
care entity' includes an individual physician or other health
care professional, a hospital, a provider-sponsored
organization, a health maintenance organization, a health
insurance plan, or any other kind of health care facility,
organization, or plan.
``(i) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit an annual report
to the Congress on the activities carried out under this section, the
funds expended on such activities, and the results achieved through
such activities.
``(j) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Pregnancy and parenting support services.--The term
`pregnancy and parenting support services' means services
offered during and after pregnancy to pregnant women and new
parents in order to help such women and such parents alleviate
the physical, financial, social, emotional, and other
difficulties that may be encountered during and after
pregnancy, consisting of the following:
``(A) Material and financial assistance, including
maternity and baby clothing, diapers, baby food
(including formula), baby furniture, and car seats.
``(B) Information for parents with newborn
children, including adopted children, addressing
resources regarding pregnancy and childbirth, infant
feeding, time management, parenting special needs
children, and nutrition during and after pregnancy.
``(C) Referrals for adoption, job training and
placement, housing, personal safety, food stamps, and
other governmental assistance.
``(D) Crisis hotlines, including for violence
prevention, suicide prevention, and survivors of sexual
assault who are pregnant due to such assault.
``(E) Pro bono obstetric and prenatal care services
for women in the carrying of their children to live
birth, including services during pregnancy and
following childbirth, and neonatal care services,
including referrals for such services.
``(F) Pro bono legal services to assist women who
are pregnant and parents with newborn children,
including adopted children.
``(G) Child care services.
``(H) Pursuing collection of child support and
alimony.
``(I) Services to assist parents to care for, and
prepare to care for, a child with Down syndrome or
another prenatally diagnosed condition, and to
facilitate the adoption of such children as
appropriate.
``(J) Life-skills mentoring, including to enhance
the following competencies:
``(i) Strengthening marriage.
``(ii) Communication and conflict
management for building healthy marriages and
families.
``(iii) Decisionmaking and relationship-
building skills prior to marriage.
``(iv) High-risk behavior awareness.
``(K) Services for postpartum depression treatment.
``(2) Qualified provider.--The term `qualified provider'
means a service provider, including a pregnancy support center,
that has been engaged in providing any pregnancy and parenting
supporting services for at least three years.''.
SEC. 102. INCENTIVES FOR WORKPLACE SOLUTIONS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN.
The Secretary of Labor shall recognize and publicize the practices
of employers who successfully meet the needs of their pregnant or
parenting employees, such as through the following policies:
(1) Family-friendly policies, including--
(A) providing child care facilities;
(B) providing family cafeterias and separate
cafeterias for those who prefer not to eat with
families;
(C) family leave policies for small employers not
covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act;
(D) paid family leave policies for employers
covered by such Act;
(E) providing rooms for mothers to breastfeed in
comfort, with refrigerators for the storage of breast
milk; and
(F) allowing telecommuting and flexible work
schedules, including meeting times conducive to
parenting if such meeting times do not harm traditional
full-time employees.
(2) Establishment of a committees to discuss matters
related to employer support for employees who are pregnant or
parenting.
(3) Policies that support pregnant women.
TITLE II--DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SEC. 201. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) women who are pregnant, including parenting students
who fear being abandoned, should be aware of and have access to
available educational resources to support them during
pregnancy, birth, and with child-rearing; and
(2) to address this concern, the Secretary of Education
should--
(A) administer a competitive, accountable grant
program to provide funds to institutions of higher
education for the aggregation and development of
pregnancy and child care best practices and programs
that support pregnant women and mothers with children
who are engaged in childcare while completing
postsecondary education; and
(B) on an annual basis, report to the appropriate
congressional committees on the progress of the
Secretary in implementing the grant program and the
outcomes related to the best practices and programs
carried out under the grant program, including the
geographic distribution of such best practices and
educational programs.
SEC. 202. FUND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATIONAL
ESTABLISHMENTS.
Section 741(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1138(a)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (12);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (13) and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(14) developing an online information toolkit about
agencies that are working within institutions of higher
education to provide services related to pregnancy and child
care, the exclusive purpose of which shall be to provide
information on such services to help pregnant and parenting
students--
``(A) locate and utilize child care services,
family housing, health insurance (for themselves and
their family), flexible academic scheduling (such as
telecommuting programs), parenting classes and
programs, and postpartum counseling and support groups;
``(B) identify scholarships, financial and in-kind
resources, grants, and loans for which such students
may be eligible;
``(C) meet the material needs of mothers and their
children, including such items as maternity and baby
clothing, diapers, baby food, baby furniture, and car
seats;
``(D) access breast pumps at locations designated
for breast feeding within the educational setting to
support breast feeding and pumping; and
``(E) access nutrition programs for pregnant women
and mothers, including the programs under section 17 of
the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (commonly known as
`WIC') and section 4 of the Food and Nutrition Act of
2008 (commonly known as `SNAP').''.
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