Representative LePak’s amendment to Choosing Childbirth Act to let out‑of‑state nonprofits receive grants passes committee
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Summary
The House Health Committee approved SB 15‑03 to allow nonprofits without a physical Oklahoma address to receive state grants under the Choosing Childbirth Act and provide targeted online outreach. Members pressed the sponsor on whether grant dollars and salaries would stay in Oklahoma and on reporting and privacy safeguards; the bill passed 5‑2.
The House Health Committee on April 9 advanced Senate Bill 15‑03, a change to the Choosing Childbirth Act that would allow nonprofits without a physical Oklahoma address to receive state grants and run online outreach that connects people searching for abortion to pregnancy resource centers, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.
Representative LePak, the sponsor, told the committee the program’s general idea is to "identify women who are online trying to find an abortion or ways to seek abortion, present them with an ad that connects them to a chat with a real person, and then eventually connect them to a pregnancy test, an ultrasound if needed, or into one of our pregnancy resource centers here in Oklahoma." He said administrative overhead for some of these groups is privately funded and that state grant dollars would be used to serve Oklahomans.
Committee members raised several concerns during extended questioning. Representative Stark pressed whether grants could be structured so that "all the money that we give in grants has to be used in Oklahoma and can't be used for those salaries either," saying he would like an amendment to require grant monies be spent in‑state. Representative LePak responded that he was "sensitive to where our tax dollars are going" and was open to language and oversight to address that concern.
Representative Rosemary Pugh Miller cited reporting concerns about a named national organization, saying she found a news article that North Carolina allocated $3,000,000 to the Human Coalition and "they never reported their grant requirements back to the state," which she described as a red flag. Representative LePak said grants should include reporting and accountability and that program managers had been stood up to ensure proper accounting; he said he would follow up to provide details.
Privacy and data‑security questions also figured in the discussion. Representative Pogue Miller asked what private information would be collected from people performing online searches; Representative LePak described the model as an ad that leads a user to a conversation and said "I don't think they're gonna be anything taken from them that they don't offer," but he agreed to follow up with staff for more details.
The committee recorded the final vote as 5 yeas and 2 nays and declared the bill passed. The sponsor said he would reach out to staff to work on possible language to ensure in‑state spending and oversight.
Why it matters: the change would broaden which organizations can receive grant funds to provide pregnancy‑support outreach, potentially expanding the state’s toolkit for maternal support and pregnancy resource navigation. Members’ questions show concern about ensuring state grant dollars and grant‑funded salaries remain in Oklahoma, about transparent reporting by grantees and about privacy protections for people who engage with online outreach.
The committee’s action moves SB 15‑03 forward in the legislative process; next steps will be committee paperwork and scheduling for subsequent floor consideration.
