II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3611 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 18, 2024 

Mrs. HYDE-SMITH (for herself, Mr. BRAUN, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. HAWLEY, 

Mr. RUBIO, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Serve Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Pregnancy centers are community-based, 

4 nonprofit organizations that provide compassionate 

5 support and resources to women and couples facing 

6 unexpected pregnancy and offer life-affirming alter7 natives to abortion. 

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

9 across the United States met with clients over 

10 16,000,000 times, providing services and material 

11 items that were estimated to be worth approximately 

12 $358,000,000. Pregnancy centers were served by 

13 62,576 workers and 72 percent of these workers 

14 (44,930) were volunteers. 97.4 percent of clients 

15 seen by pregnancy centers reported having a positive 

16 experience with pregnancy centers. 

17 (3) Eighteen States have established alter18 natives to abortion programs, which fund life-affirm19 ing services to empower pregnant women to choose 

20 life for their babies instead of abortion, typically by 

21 supporting pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, 

22 maternity homes, and other relevant social services 

23 partners. 

24 (4) Alternatives to abortion programs offer 

25 services and material assistance to pregnant women 

26 and their families, including parenting classes, trainVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jan 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3611.IS S3611

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1 ing in life skills, sexual risk avoidance education, 

2 promoting responsible paternity, promoting mar3 riage, care coordination, housing and support serv4 ices through maternity homes, assistance with job 

5 searching, reducing dependence on government, and 

6 much more. 

7 (5) States have supported these alternatives to 

8 abortion programs with a portion of the funds pro9 vided to them under the Temporary Assistance for 

10 Needy Families Program under part A of title IV of 

11 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) (re12 ferred to in this Act as ‘‘TANF’’) for more than 2 

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

14 Louisiana, Missouri, and Ohio, currently use TANF 

15 funds to support such programs, together expending 

16 millions of dollars each year. 

17 (6) On October 2, 2023, the Biden Administra18 tion issued a proposed rule, ‘‘Strengthening Tem19 porary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) as a 

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

21 67697) targeting pregnancy centers and alternatives 

22 to abortion programs and threatening to strip them 

23 of millions of dollars of funding, depriving pregnant 

24 women in need of compassionate assistance for 

25 themselves and their unborn babies. 


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1 (7) Contrary to the assertions of the Biden Ad2 ministration, alternatives to abortion programs, and 

3 the pregnancy centers they support, fulfill the pur4 pose of TANF specified in section 401(a) of the So5 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601(a)) to— 

6 (A) provide assistance to needy families so 

7 that children may be cared for in their own 

8 homes or in the homes of relatives; 

9 (B) end the dependence of needy parents 

10 on government benefits by promoting job prepa11 ration, work, and marriage; 

12 (C) prevent and reduce the incidence of 

13 out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual 

14 numerical goals for preventing and reducing the 

15 incidence of these pregnancies; and 

16 (D) encourage the formation and mainte17 nance of two-parent families. 

18 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

19 The purposes of this Act are to— 

20 (1) clarify the longstanding authority of States 

21 to use TANF funds to fund alternatives to abortion 

22 programs and pregnancy centers, which provide life23 affirming services to empower pregnant women to 

24 choose life for their babies instead of abortion; and 


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1 (2) prevent wrongful attempts to target such 

2 life-affirming programs and providers and to strip 

3 such assistance from women and families in need. 

4 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF ALTERNATIVES 

5 TO ABORTION PROGRAMS TO RECEIVE TANF 

6 FUNDS. 

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

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

9 subsection: 

10 ‘‘(l) CLARIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF ALTER11 NATIVES TO ABORTION PROGRAMS.— 

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

13 is made under section 403 may use such grant to 

14 carry out alternatives to abortion programs in fur15 therance of the purpose of this part specified in sec16 tion 401(a). 

17 ‘‘(2) ALTERNATIVES TO ABORTION PROGRAMS

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

19 to abortion programs’ means 1 or more programs 

20 that promote childbirth as an alternative to abortion, 

21 through life-affirming social services providers, 

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

23 centers, adoption assistance providers, and maternity 

24 homes. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the 

25 term ‘life-affirming social services providers’ does 


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1 not include entities that provide, facilitate, counsel 

2 in favor of, or refer for, abortions. 

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

4 through alternatives to abortion programs that are 

5 carried out with any amount paid to a State under 

6 section 403 in furtherance of the purpose of this 

7 part specified in section 401(a), and subject to sec8 tion 408(a)(6), may include, but are not limited to— 

9 ‘‘(A) counseling and mentoring on preg10 nancy, education, parenting skills, adoption 

11 services, life skills, alcohol and drug use, rela12 tionships, sexually transmitted infections, 

13 abuse, fetal development, nutrition, child care, 

14 sexual risk avoidance, and employment readi15 ness topics; 

16 ‘‘(B) care coordination for prenatal, 

17 perinatal, and postnatal services, including con18 necting participants to health services; 

19 ‘‘(C) educational materials and information 

20 about pregnancy, parenting, sexual risk avoid21 ance, and adoption services; 

22 ‘‘(D) referrals to governmental and social 

23 service programs, including child care, transpor24 tation, housing, and Federal and State benefit 

25 programs; 


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

2 parenthood, stress management, job training, 

3 sexual risk avoidance, job readiness, job place4 ment, and educational attainment; 

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

6 including car seats, cribs, infant diapers, and 

7 formula; and 

8 ‘‘(G) housing services.’’. 

9 SEC. 5. DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED. 

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

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

12 subsection: 

13 ‘‘(e) DISCRIMINATION PROHIBITED.— 

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

15 Government shall not discriminate against— 

16 ‘‘(A) a grantee or potential grantee recipi17 ent of funds paid to a State under section 403 

18 or subject them to disparate treatment because 

19 of such grantee or potential grantee’s commit20 ment to offer compassionate support and re21 sources to women facing unexpected pregnancy, 

22 offer of life-affirming alternatives to abortion, 

23 or unwillingness to counsel in favor of, suggest, 

24 recommend, assist, or in any way participate in 

25 the performance of abortions; or 


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

2 such a grantee or potential grantee. 

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

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

5 in a civil action, obtain appropriate relief with 

6 regard to a violation of paragraph (1). 

7 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED PARTY.—The term ‘quali8 fied party’ means— 

9 ‘‘(i) the Attorney General of the 

10 United States; 

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

12 or 

13 ‘‘(iii) any person or entity adversely 

14 affected by the designated violation. 

15 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES NOT RE16 QUIRED.—An action under this paragraph may 

17 be commenced, and relief may be granted, with18 out regard to whether the party commencing 

19 the action has sought or exhausted any avail20 able administrative remedies. 

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

22 under this paragraph, the court shall grant— 

23 ‘‘(i) all appropriate relief, including 

24 injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and 

25 compensatory damages to prevent the ocVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jan 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3611.IS S3611

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1 currence, continuance, or repetition of the 

2 designated violation and to compensate for 

3 losses resulting from the designated viola4 tion; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) to a prevailing plaintiff, reason6 able attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. 

7 ‘‘(E) MONEY DAMAGES.—Relief in an ac8 tion under this paragraph may include money 

9 damages even if the defendant is a govern10 mental entity. 

11 ‘‘(F) WAIVER OF FEDERAL SOVEREIGN IM12 MUNITY.— 

13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—No Federal gov14 ernmental official that commits a des15 ignated violation shall be immune under 

16 the Constitution of the United States, or 

17 any other source of law, from an action 

18 under subparagraph (A). 

19 ‘‘(ii) WAIVER OF FEDERAL SOV20 EREIGN IMMUNITY.—This clause shall con21 stitute a waiver of Federal sovereign im22 munity with respect to any claim brought 

23 under an action under subparagraph (A). 

24 ‘‘(3) TERMS DEFINED.—The terms ‘discrimi25 nate against’ and ‘subject to disparate treatment’ inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Jan 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3611.IS S3611

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1 clude, but are not limited to, any action or policy by 

2 the Federal Government, with respect to a grantee 

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

4 that presumes ineligibility or failure to satisfy the 

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

6 the imposition of any burden, including any adminis7 trative requirement or demonstration of satisfying 

8 such purpose, which is not applicable to other grant9 ees or potential grantees who are not so described.’’. 

Æ 


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