The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Pregnant Students Rights Act, led by Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson, both Republicans.
The bill would protect pregnant students and their babies by strengthening existing requirements for higher education institutions to publicly disclose the rights and resources available to help mothers carry their babies to term.
“Pregnant college students should never feel like abortion is their only option,” Senator Rubio said. “The Republican-led House took a huge step in empowering women to choose life by passing this legislation. I encourage my Senate colleagues to follow suit and work to ensure young women are aware of all the resources available to them and their babies while pursuing their education.”
Specifically, the Pregnant Student Rights Act would:
- Amend the Higher Education Act to ensure college students know their protections and rights other than abortion services through more thorough information dissemination activities, such as placing the resources on the school’s website, in student handbooks and emails, or shared during student orientations.
- Reinforce current law requiring schools to adopt and publish procedures for students to file complaints of discrimination related to their sex, pregnancy, or parental status by imploring colleges to make these existing protections and accommodations more widely known.
- Require every higher education institution to complete and submit an annual survey of their students to gather information about how pregnant students used their campus resources and Title IX violations.
“Pregnant women on college campuses should never be pressured into having an abortion, they should be surrounded with support and empowered to continue their education and their pregnancy,” Congresswoman Hinson said. “Women who choose to complete their studies while pregnant should be an inspiration to us all, and I find it sad that Democrats are so dug in on the pro-abortion agenda that they would oppose providing pregnant women on college campuses with resources and information about available protections under Title IX. This life-affirming legislation will help save moms and babies and is a vital step toward creating a culture of life in this country.”
The pro-life legislation has been endorsed by Susan B. Anthony List, Family Research Council, Students for Life Action, Feminists for Life, and the U.S. Conference for Catholic Bishops.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where Democrats will not likely make it a political priority. View the legislation below:
PregnantStudentRightsAct_Rubio
