H.R. 3235 — MOMS Act

This section establishes a public website, pregnancy.gov, to be published by the Secretary of Health and Human Services not later than one year after enactment, featuring a clearinghouse of resources (i.e., federal, state, local, and private services in areas such as mentorship, health services including abortion pill reversal and obstetrical/gynecological care, financial/childcare/education assistance, material/legal support, and mental health/recovery services) for pregnant and postpartum women and women parenting young children; an interactive tool to generate ZIP code-based resource lists within user-selected distances (online or 1, 5, 10, 50, or 100 miles); and a user assessment mechanism with consent for follow-up outreach. The section further directs the Secretary to (1) invite states to recommend resources using criteria that exclude prohibited entities (i.e., entities that perform, induce, refer for, counsel in favor of, or financially support abortions); (2) award grants to states to aggregate qualifying state resources, potentially coordinated by public or private entities; (3) ensure multilingual access; and (4) submit a report to Congress 180 days after website establishment on traffic, user feedback, resource gaps, improvements, and certification excluding prohibited entities and grant recipients. The section authorizes appropriations of such sums as necessary for FY2025 through FY2030 and prohibits delegation of website implementation below the Office of the Secretary level.

This section amends the Social Security Act (1) to require each state, by January 1 of each fiscal year, to submit to the Secretary a list of private child placement agencies (i.e., agencies that place children in prospective adoptive homes) that were licensed or accredited, in good standing, and exempt from federal income tax under IRC §501(c)(3) as of the end of the preceding fiscal year; to direct the Secretary to compile and maintain these lists on the public pregnancy.gov website; and to require annual reports to Congress beginning on the second December 31 after enactment that include the national list, identify any state-licensed child placement agencies not on the list, and specify state disciplinary actions against such agencies; and (2) to condition a state's eligibility for adoption and legal guardianship incentive payments—grants rewarding states for increases in adoptions and legal guardianships of children in foster care, particularly older children and those with special needs—on compliance with this reporting requirement for the preceding fiscal year.

This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to compile and maintain on the pregnancy.gov website (required under section 3401 of the Public Health Service Act), a publicly available list of federal funding opportunities available to nonprofit and health care entities for pregnancy support services that offer or provide relevant resources (as defined in section 3401(g)).

This section establishes a grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support, encourage, and assist women in carrying pregnancies to term and caring for themselves and their babies after birth, authorizing such sums as necessary for FY2025 through FY2030. Grants are awarded to nonprofit entities that agree not to charge for services, provide accurate information on fetal development, maintain HIPAA-comparable privacy protections for client information (i.e., requirements applicable to covered entities under HIPAA privacy regulations), and are ineligible if they or affiliates perform, induce, refer for, counsel in favor of, or financially support abortions. Grantees must provide pregnant, postpartum, or parenting women with information on and referral to specified services—(1) medical care, (2) nutritional services, (3) housing assistance, (4) adoption services, (5) education and employment assistance, (6) child care assistance, (7) parenting education and support, and (8) voluntary substance abuse counseling and treatment—and may use funds to directly provide such services; funds are prohibited from use for abortion coverage, unlicensed adoption services, or abortion-related activities. HHS must monitor grantees for adherence and cease funding for noncompliance, prioritizing applicants with demonstrated capacity in such services.

This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants or enter into cooperative agreements with eligible entities to purchase equipment (e.g., pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, scales, blood glucose monitors) for at-home telehealth visits to screen, monitor, and manage prenatal and postnatal care, for the purpose of improving maternal and infant health outcomes, reducing maternal mortality, and increasing access to care in rural areas, frontier counties, medically underserved areas, or jurisdictions of Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations. Eligible entities are those providing prenatal, labor, birthing, or postpartum care services in such areas but are ineligible if they or affiliates perform, induce, refer for, or counsel abortions or provide financial support to entities that do. The Secretary must submit to Congress by September 30, 2029, a report describing grant activities and analyzing their effects on prenatal and postnatal care, and the section authorizes appropriations of such sums as necessary for FY2025 through FY2030.

This section amends state plan requirements under the child support enforcement program (Title IV-D of the Social Security Act) to (1) extend services to unborn children—defined as a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development in the womb—and (2) require states to establish and enforce biological fathers' support obligations for such children (and post-birth) if requested by the mother, with obligations potentially starting from the month of conception as determined by a physician, determined by a court considering the mother and child's best interests, eligible for retroactive collection, and without mandatory or risky paternity establishment. It further limits the HHS Secretary's authority under SSA §1115 to waive these new requirements (SSA §454(4)(A)(ii) and (35)) through experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects. The amendments take effect two years after enactment and apply to program payments for calendar quarters beginning on or after that date.