Bill Summary

The Pregnant Women Support Act is a pro-life bill which seeks to create new programs aimed to help pregnant women to reduce the number of abortions.

In order to help women economically, this bill will ensure that pregnant women are not denied coverage by insurance companies, will provide qualified new mothers with free home visits by registered nurses, and will provide parenting education in maternity group homes. Furthermore, this bill will allow states to provide Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) coverage to unborn children and their mothers. A toll-free number will also be established with information on access to resources during pregnancy and after birth. In order to help women in college, who are the most likely subset of women to get an abortion, this bill will provide grants to higher education institutions to fund pregnant and parenting student services.

This bill will also expand the access to adoption services and prospective adoptive parents by making permanent the adoption tax credits and expanding adoption assistance programs.

In order to better understand why women seek abortions, this bill will also fund the collection of abortion data and report on the reasons why women have abortions.

Bill Status

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced this bill in the Senate in December 2007 and it was referred to committee. Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN) introduced this bill in the House in July 2007 and it was referred to committee.