Ways and Means advances bill to restore $4 million a year for pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced House File 25 on a voice vote after a morning presentation by the bill’s author.

Representative Zalesnikar, the bill’s sponsor, told the committee the measure “restores the $4,000,000 per year as positive alternative grants with $3,000,000 for pregnancy resource centers and $1,000,000 for maternity homes.” She described the proposal as restoring funding that she said had existed for 17 years before being ended in 2023.

Committee members asked detailed questions about how grant recipients are staffed, how medical issues would be handled and how the grants would be audited and monitored.

Representative Bierman asked what a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) would do if a woman presented with symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy. Representative Zalesnikar answered that a provider “would give the information that they know, and refer them if they wanted to go to the hospital or for further evaluation.”

Represen…