II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4541 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to furnish tailored 

information to expecting mothers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 14, 2022 

Mr. RUBIO (for himself, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. WICKER, Mr. INHOFE, Mrs. 

HYDE-SMITH, Mr. THUNE, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. CRUZ, and Mrs. 

FISCHER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

to furnish tailored information to expecting mothers, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Standing with Moms 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AWARENESS FOR EXPECTING MOTHERS. 

7 The Public Health Service Act is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘TITLE XXXIV—AWARENESS FOR 

2 EXPECTING MOTHERS 

3 ‘‘SEC. 3401. WEBSITE AND PORTAL. 

4 ‘‘(a) WEBSITE.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

5 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish 

6 a user-friendly public website, life.gov, to provide a com7 prehensive list of Federal, State, local governmental, and 

8 private resources available to pregnant women including— 

9 ‘‘(1) resources to mental health counseling, 

10 pregnancy counseling, and other prepartum and 

11 postpartum services; 

12 ‘‘(2) comprehensive information on alternatives 

13 to abortion; 

14 ‘‘(3) information about abortion risks, including 

15 complications and failures; and 

16 ‘‘(4) links to information on child development 

17 from moment of conception. 

18 ‘‘(b) PORTAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

19 of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish 

20 a portal on the public website of the Department of Health 

21 and Human Services that— 

22 ‘‘(1) through a series of questions, will furnish 

23 specific tailored information to the user on what 

24 pregnancy-related information they are looking for, 

25 such as— 


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1 ‘‘(A) Federal, State, local governmental, 

2 and private resources that may be available to 

3 the woman within her ZIP Code, including the 

4 resources specified in subsection (c); and 

5 ‘‘(B) risks related to abortion at all stages 

6 of fetal gestation; and 

7 ‘‘(2) provides for the submission of feedback on 

8 how user-friendly and helpful the portal was in pro9 viding the tailored information the user was seeking. 

10 ‘‘(c) RESOURCES.—The Federal, State, local govern11 mental, and private resources specified in this subsection 

12 are the following: 

13 ‘‘(1) Mentorship opportunities, including preg14 nancy help and case management resources. 

15 ‘‘(2) Health and well-being services, including 

16 women’s medical services such as obstetrical and 

17 gynecological support services for women, abortion 

18 pill reversal, breastfeeding, general health services, 

19 primary care, and dental care. 

20 ‘‘(3) Financial assistance, work opportunities, 

21 nutrition assistance, childcare, and education oppor22 tunities. 

23 ‘‘(4) Material or legal support, including trans24 portation, food, nutrition, clothing, household goods, 

25 baby supplies, housing, shelters, maternity homes, 


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1 tax preparation, legal support for child support, 

2 family leave, breastfeeding protections, and custody 

3 issues. 

4 ‘‘(5) Recovery and mental health services, in5 cluding services with respect to addiction or suicide 

6 intervention, intimate partner violence, sexual as7 sault, rape, sex trafficking, and counseling for 

8 women and families surrounding unexpected loss of 

9 a child. 

10 ‘‘(6) Prenatal diagnostic services, including dis11 ability support organizations, medical interventions 

12 for a baby, perinatal hospice resources, pregnancy 

13 and infant loss support, and literature on pregnancy 

14 wellness. 

15 ‘‘(7) Healing and support services for abortion 

16 survivors and their families. 

17 ‘‘(8) Services providing care for children, in18 cluding family planning education, adoption, foster 

19 care, and short-term care resources. 

20 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary may not del21 egate implementation or administration of the portal es22 tablished under subsection (b) below the level of the Office 

23 of the Secretary. 

24 ‘‘(e) FOLLOW-UP.—The Secretary shall develop a 

25 plan under which— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the Secretary includes in the portal estab2 lished under subsection (b), a mechanism for users 

3 of the portal to take an assessment through the por4 tal and provide consent to use the user’s contact in5 formation; 

6 ‘‘(2) the Secretary conducts outreach via phone 

7 or email to follow up with users of the portal estab8 lished under subsection (b) on additional resources 

9 that would be helpful for the users to review; and 

10 ‘‘(3) upon the request of a user of the portal for 

11 specific information, after learning of the additional 

12 resources through the portal, agents of the Depart13 ment of Health and Human Services make every ef14 fort to furnish specific information to such user in 

15 coordination with Federal, State, local governmental, 

16 and private health care providers and resources. 

17 ‘‘(f) RESOURCE LIST AGGREGATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to criteria devel19 oped in subsection (e)(2), each State shall provide 

20 recommendations of State, local governmental, and 

21 private resources under subsection (b)(1)(A) to in22 clude in the portal. 

23 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR MAKING RECOMMENDA24 TIONS.—The Secretary shall develop criteria to pro25 vide to the States to determine whether resources 


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1 recommended as described in paragraph (1) for in2 clusion in the portal can appear in the portal. Such 

3 criteria shall include the requirement that the re4 source provider is not a prohibited entity and the re5 quirement that the resource provider has been en6 gaged in providing services for a minimum of 3 con7 secutive years. 

8 ‘‘(3) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

10 provide grants to States to establish or support 

11 a system that aggregates the resources de12 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A), in accordance 

13 with the criteria developed under paragraph 

14 (2), and that may be coordinated, to the extent 

15 determined appropriate by the State, by a 

16 statewide, regionally based, or community-based 

17 public entity or private nonprofit. 

18 ‘‘(B) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re19 ceive a grant under subparagraph (A), a State 

20 shall submit an application to the Secretary at 

21 such time, in such manner, and containing such 

22 information as the Secretary may require, in23 cluding a plan for outreach and awareness ac24 tivities, and a list of service providers that 


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1 would be included in the State system sup2 ported by the grant. 

3 ‘‘(g) MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINE.—The 

4 Secretary shall ensure that the Maternal Mental Health 

5 Hotline of the Health Resources and Services Administra6 tion— 

7 ‘‘(1) disseminates information regarding, and 

8 linkages to, the life.gov website and portal described 

9 in subsections (a) and (b); 

10 ‘‘(2) has the capacity to help families in every 

11 State and community in the Nation; and 

12 ‘‘(3) includes live chat features, 24 hours a day, 

13 to connect individuals to the information the portal 

14 hosts. 

15 ‘‘(h) PROHIBITION REGARDING CERTAIN ENTI16 TIES.—The resources listed on the life.gov website, and 

17 made available through the portal and hotline established 

18 under this section may not include any resource offered 

19 by a prohibited entity. 

20 ‘‘(i) SERVICES IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.—The 

21 life.gov website and hotline shall ensure the widest possible 

22 access to services for families who speak languages other 

23 than English. 

24 ‘‘(j) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after date on which the life.gov website and portal 

3 are established under subsection (a), the Secretary 

4 shall submit to Congress a report on— 

5 ‘‘(A) the traffic of the website and the 

6 interactive portal; 

7 ‘‘(B) user feedback on the accessibility and 

8 helpfulness of the website and interactive portal 

9 in tailoring to the user’s needs; 

10 ‘‘(C) insights on gaps in Federal, State, 

11 local governmental, and private programming 

12 with respect to services for pregnant and 

13 postpartum women; and 

14 ‘‘(D) suggestions on how to improve user 

15 experience and accessibility based on user feed16 back and missing resources that would be help17 ful to include in future updates. 

18 ‘‘(2) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The report under 

19 paragraph (1) shall not include any personal identi20 fying information regarding individuals who have 

21 used the website or portal. 

22 ‘‘(k) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) ABORTION.—The term ‘abortion’ means 

24 the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, 

25 drug, or other substance or device to intentionally— 


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1 ‘‘(A) kill the unborn child of a woman 

2 known to be pregnant; or 

3 ‘‘(B) prematurely terminate the pregnancy 

4 of a woman known to be pregnant, with an in5 tention other than to— 

6 ‘‘(i) increase the probability of a live 

7 birth or of preserving the life or health of 

8 the child after live birth; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) remove a dead unborn child. 

10 ‘‘(2) BORN ALIVE.—The term ‘born alive’ has 

11 the meaning given such term in section 8(b) of title 

12 1, United States Code. 

13 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITED ENTITY.—The term ‘prohib14 ited entity’ means an entity, including its affiliates, 

15 subsidiaries, successors, and clinics that performs, 

16 induces, refers for, or counsels in favor of abortions, 

17 or provides financial support to any other organiza18 tion that conducts such activities. 

19 ‘‘(4) UNBORN CHILD.—The term ‘unborn child’ 

20 means an individual organism of the species homo 

21 sapiens, beginning at fertilization, until the point of 

22 being born alive.’’. 

Æ 


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