MOMS Act
Key claim: The MOMS Act (HR3235) would require states to collect child support during pregnancy, fund grants for pregnancy support services and rural telehealth prenatal care, and mandate an HHS-run website listing pregnancy resources and alternatives to abortion.
Abstract
(HR3235 · 119th Congress) More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed Act or the MOMS Act This bill establishes requirements to enable the collection of certain child support during pregnancy, establishes grants for supportive services for women that promote alternatives to abortions, and requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a website with pregnancy resources other than those about abortions. Specifically, the bill requires states to apply child support obligations to the time period during pregnancy under the Child Support Enforcement program. (The program enables states to receive federal matching funds for expenses related to child support enforcement activities and related services.) Such child support applies at the request of the mother and may be applied retroactively. Also, HHS must award grants to nonprofits to provide pregnant and postpartum women, and women parenting young children, with services or information on topics including health care (excluding abortions), child care, and employment assistance. It also requires HHS to provide grants to health care providers in rural or medically underserved areas, as well as tribal areas, to purchase equipment enabling telehealth visits for prenatal and postnatal care (e.g., monitoring devices). Additionally, the bill requires HHS to establish a public website to inform pregnant and postpartum women, and women parenting young children, of nearby services and resources on topics including health care, material or legal support, and alternatives to abortion. States must, as a condition of receiving certain federal funds, provide lists of nonprofit child placement agencies for potential inclusion on the site. Latest action (2025-05-07): Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Why this matters
The MOMS Act’s prenatal child support collection mandate would expand the scope of state Title IV-D agencies — the same programs affected by the pending ACF rescission of noncustodial-parent employment and training services. For workers and employers, this signals potential new income-withholding obligations tied to pregnancy status, though the bill’s primary focus (grants, telehealth, federal resource website) sits largely outside labor and employment policy.