I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7427 

To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to clarify the 

longstanding authority of States to use funds made available under 

the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to fund lifeaffirming services to empower pregnant women to choose life for their 

babies instead of abortion, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 20, 2024 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. HINSON, Mrs. LESKO, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. GUEST, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BANKS, Mr. 

CRENSHAW, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. 

MANN, Mr. MOONEY, Mr. MOORE of Utah, Mr. SELF, and Mr. TIMMONS) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act 

to clarify the longstanding authority of States to use 

funds made available under the Temporary Assistance 

for Needy Families program to fund life-affirming services to empower pregnant women to choose life for their 

babies instead of abortion, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Let Pregnancy Centers 

3 Serve Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Pregnancy centers are community-based, 

7 nonprofit organizations that provide compassionate 

8 support and resources to women and couples facing 

9 unexpected pregnancy and offer life-affirming alter10 natives to abortion. 

11 (2) In 2022 alone, 2,750 pregnancy centers 

12 across the United States met with clients over 

13 16,000,000 times, providing services and material 

14 items that were estimated to be worth approximately 

15 $358,000,000. Pregnancy centers were served by 

16 62,576 workers and 72 percent of these workers 

17 (44,930) were volunteers. 97.4 percent of clients 

18 seen by pregnancy centers reported having a positive 

19 experience with pregnancy centers. 

20 (3) Eighteen States have established alter21 natives to abortion programs, which fund life-affirm22 ing services to empower pregnant women to choose 

23 life for their babies instead of abortion, typically by 

24 supporting pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, 

25 maternity homes, and other relevant social services 

26 partners. 


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1 (4) Alternatives to abortion programs offer 

2 services and material assistance to pregnant women 

3 and their families, including parenting classes, train4 ing in life skills, sexual risk avoidance education, 

5 promoting responsible paternity, promoting mar6 riage, care coordination, housing and support serv7 ices through maternity homes, assistance with job 

8 searching, reducing dependence on government, and 

9 much more. 

10 (5) States have supported these alternatives to 

11 abortion programs with a portion of the funds pro12 vided to them under the Temporary Assistance for 

13 Needy Families Program under part A of title IV of 

14 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) (re15 ferred to in this Act as ‘‘TANF’’) for more than 2 

16 decades, since 2001. At least 4 States, Indiana, 

17 Louisiana, Missouri, and Ohio, currently use TANF 

18 funds to support such programs, together expending 

19 millions of dollars each year. 

20 (6) On October 2, 2023, the Biden Administra21 tion issued a proposed rule, ‘‘Strengthening Tem22 porary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as a 

23 Safety Net and Work Program,’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 

24 67697) targeting pregnancy centers and alternatives 

25 to abortion programs and threatening to strip them 


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1 of millions of dollars of funding, depriving pregnant 

2 women in need of compassionate assistance for 

3 themselves and their unborn babies. 

4 (7) Contrary to the assertions of the Biden Ad5 ministration, alternatives to abortion programs, and 

6 the pregnancy centers they support, fulfill the pur7 pose of TANF specified in section 401(a) of the So8 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601(a)) to— 

9 (A) provide assistance to needy families so 

10 that children may be cared for in their own 

11 homes or in the homes of relatives; 

12 (B) end the dependence of needy parents 

13 on government benefits by promoting job prepa14 ration, work, and marriage; 

15 (C) prevent and reduce the incidence of 

16 out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual 

17 numerical goals for preventing and reducing the 

18 incidence of these pregnancies; and 

19 (D) encourage the formation and mainte20 nance of two-parent families. 

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

22 The purposes of this Act are to— 

23 (1) clarify the longstanding authority of States 

24 to use TANF funds to fund alternatives to abortion 

25 programs and pregnancy centers, which provide lifeVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Feb 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7427.IH H7427

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1 affirming services to empower pregnant women to 

2 choose life for their babies instead of abortion; and 

3 (2) prevent wrongful attempts to target such 

4 life-affirming programs and providers and to strip 

5 such assistance from women and families in need. 

6 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF ALTERNATIVES 

7 TO ABORTION PROGRAMS TO RECEIVE TANF 

8 FUNDS. 

9 Section 404 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 604) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

11 subsection: 

12 ‘‘(l) CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF ALTER13 NATIVES TO ABORTION PROGRAMS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State to which a grant 

15 is made under section 403 may use such grant to 

16 carry out alternatives to abortion programs in fur17 therance of the purpose of this part specified in sec18 tion 401(a). 

19 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION PROGRAMS

20 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘alternatives 

21 to abortion programs’ means 1 or more programs 

22 that promote childbirth as an alternative to abortion, 

23 through life-affirming social services providers, 

24 which may include, but are not limited, to pregnancy 

25 centers, adoption assistance providers, and maternity 


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1 homes. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the 

2 term ‘life-affirming social services providers’ does 

3 not include entities that provide, facilitate, counsel 

4 in favor of, or refer for, abortions. 

5 ‘‘(3) PERMITTED SERVICES.—Services provided 

6 through alternatives to abortion programs that are 

7 carried out with any amount paid to a State under 

8 section 403 in furtherance of the purpose of this 

9 part specified in section 401(a), and subject to sec10 tion 408(a)(6), may include, but are not limited to— 

11 ‘‘(A) counseling and mentoring on preg12 nancy, education, parenting skills, adoption 

13 services, life skills, alcohol and drug use, rela14 tionships, sexually transmitted infections, 

15 abuse, fetal development, nutrition, child care, 

16 sexual risk avoidance, and employment readi17 ness topics; 

18 ‘‘(B) care coordination for prenatal, 

19 perinatal, and postnatal services, including con20 necting participants to health services; 

21 ‘‘(C) educational materials and information 

22 about pregnancy, parenting, sexual risk avoid23 ance, and adoption services; 

24 ‘‘(D) referrals to governmental and social 

25 service programs, including child care, transporVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Feb 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7427.IH H7427

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1 tation, housing, and Federal and State benefit 

2 programs; 

3 ‘‘(E) classes on life skills, personal finance, 

4 parenthood, stress management, job training, 

5 sexual risk avoidance, job readiness, job place6 ment, and educational attainment; 

7 ‘‘(F) provision of supplies for infant care, 

8 including car seats, cribs, infant diapers, and 

9 formula; and 

10 ‘‘(G) housing services.’’. 

11 SEC. 5. DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED. 

12 Section 409 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 609) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

14 subsection: 

15 ‘‘(e) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.— 

16 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The Federal 

17 Government shall not discriminate against— 

18 ‘‘(A) a grantee or potential grantee recipi19 ent of funds paid to a State under section 403 

20 or subject them to disparate treatment because 

21 of such grantee or potential grantee’s commit22 ment to offer compassionate support and re23 sources to women facing unexpected pregnancy, 

24 offer of life-affirming alternatives to abortion, 

25 or unwillingness to counsel in favor of, suggest, 


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1 recommend, assist, or in any way participate in 

2 the performance of abortions; or 

3 ‘‘(B) against a State that contracts with 

4 such a grantee or potential grantee. 

5 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION FOR VIOLATIONS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A qualified party may, 

7 in a civil action, obtain appropriate relief with 

8 regard to a violation of paragraph (1). 

9 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED PARTY.—The term ‘quali10 fied party’ means— 

11 ‘‘(i) the Attorney General of the 

12 United States; 

13 ‘‘(ii) any attorney general of a State; 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(iii) any person or entity adversely 

16 affected by the designated violation. 

17 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES NOT RE18 QUIRED.—An action under this paragraph may 

19 be commenced, and relief may be granted, with20 out regard to whether the party commencing 

21 the action has sought or exhausted any avail22 able administrative remedies. 

23 ‘‘(D) NATURE OF RELIEF.—In an action 

24 under this paragraph, the court shall grant— 


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1 ‘‘(i) all appropriate relief, including 

2 injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and 

3 compensatory damages to prevent the oc4 currence, continuance, or repetition of the 

5 designated violation and to compensate for 

6 losses resulting from the designated viola7 tion; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) to a prevailing plaintiff, reason9 able attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. 

10 ‘‘(E) MONEY DAMAGES.—Relief in an ac11 tion under this paragraph may include money 

12 damages even if the defendant is a govern13 mental entity. 

14 ‘‘(F) WAIVER OF FEDERAL SOVEREIGN IM15 MUNITY.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—No Federal gov17 ernmental official that commits a des18 ignated violation shall be immune under 

19 the Constitution of the United States, or 

20 any other source of law, from an action 

21 under subparagraph (A). 

22 ‘‘(ii) WAIVER OF FEDERAL SOV23 EREIGN IMMUNITY.—This clause shall con24 stitute a waiver of Federal sovereign imVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Feb 27, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7427.IH H7427

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1 munity with respect to any claim brought 

2 under an action under subparagraph (A). 

3 ‘‘(3) TERMS DEFINED.—The terms ‘discrimi4 nate against’ and ‘subject to disparate treatment’ in5 clude, but are not limited to, any action or policy by 

6 the Federal Government, with respect to a grantee 

7 or potential grantee described in paragraph (1)(A), 

8 that presumes ineligibility or failure to satisfy the 

9 purpose of this part set forth in section 401(a), or 

10 the imposition of any burden, including any adminis11 trative requirement or demonstration of satisfying 

12 such purpose, which is not applicable to other grant13 ees or potential grantees who are not so described.’’. 

Æ 


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