The Pregnancy Support Act is a bill that will provide comprehensive resources for pregnant women as well as supportive care to mother and infant after birth. This bill would authorize grants towards education to mothers and home visits by registered nurses, an increase in public awareness of the available resources for pregnant women, and additional funding to the WIC program to provide supplemental nutrition programs for women, infants, and children. The Pregnancy Support Act also provides funding for higher education of mothers and programs to help teen parents to complete high school. This bill would mandate that insurance companies could not deny coverage on the basis that a woman is pregnant and extend coverage to her unborn child. The Pregnant Women Support act will ensure that pregnant women receive optimum prenatal and postpartum care, education, and promote overall maternal and infant health.
The Pregnant Women Support Act is sponsored by U.S. Representative Lincoln Davis. Davis has been representing the 4th congressional district of Tennessee since 2002. Prior to this, Davis was Mayor of Byrdstown, TN from 1979 to 1983. From there, he went on to become a representative in the Tennessee State House of Representatives (1980-1984). Soon after, he was a member of the Tennessee State Senate (1996-2002). This bill has six cosponsors including Peter King (New York, republican), Dough Lamborn (Colorado, republican), James Langevin (Rhode Island, democrat), John Murtha (Pennsylvania, democrat), James Oberstar (Minnesota, democrat), and Mark Souder (Indiana, republican).
Pregnant Women Support Act was introduced to the House of Representatives on January 16, 2009. The bill was referred to the following committees: House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, House Education and Labor, House Agriculture, and House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry. This bill is still currently in these committees.
