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1 1 (October 6, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govegll0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the legislitive debate since 1914 Updated October 6, 2021 The Pregnancy Assistance Fund The Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) grant program was established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA; P.L. 111-148, as amended), which provided $25 million in annual mandatory funding for each of FY2010 through FY2019. (No new grants were issued after FY2019, effectively terminating the program; the ACA provisions that apply to the program have not been repealed.) The PAF focused on meeting the educational, social service, and health needs of vulnerable expectant and parenting individuals and their families during pregnancy and the postnatal period. The ACA identified eligible populations as expectant and parenting teens, college students, and women of any age who experience domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Section 25003 of H.R. 5376, as reported by the House Budget Committee on September 27, 2021, would amend the ACA to reauthorize the PAF program by providing $25 million in mandatory funding for each of FY2022 through FY2024. (No changes would be made to the program itself.) For a discussion of issues associated with reauthorization that Congress might consider, see CRS Report R45426, The Pregnancy Assistance Fund: An Overview. Background The research literature indicates that pregnancy has high costs for the individuals eligible for the PAF program. Teenage mothers and fathers tend to have less education and are more likely to live in poverty than their peers who are not parenting. Nearly one-third of adolescent females who have dropped out of high school and college cite pregnancy or parenthood as a reason. One analysis found that single young women who had children after enrolling in community college were 65% more likely to drop out than their same-age peers who did not have children after enrolling. Studies further indicate that approximately 3% to 9% of women experience domestic violence during pregnancy. Grant Categoris and Requirements The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) administered the PAF program, and funding was awarded competitively to the 50 states, District of Columbia (DC), U.S. territories, and tribal entities (hereinafter, state grantees) that applied successfully. The grantees were to use the funds as follows: * to provide subgrants to institutions of higher education (IHEs), high schools, or community service providers to enable these subgrantees to establish, operate, or maintain pregnancy or parenting services for the expectant and parenting population; * to provide, in partnership with states' attorneys general offices, certain legal and supportive services for women who experience domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual assault, or stalking while they are pregnant or parenting an infant; and * to support, either directly or through a subgrantee, public awareness about PAF services for the expectant and parenting population that is eligible for the program. The PAF authorizing law required each subgrantee to provide an annual report to the state grantee that itemized program expenditures; reviewed and evaluated its performance; and described its achievements in meeting the needs of participants, including the frequency with which they used services. It also required that grantees prepare an annual report to HHS on this subgrantee information, the number of subgrantees that were awarded funds, and the number of individuals who were served with funds. IHEs, High Schools, and Community Service Providers PAF grantees could provide subgrants to high schools (schools that serve grades 7-12), community service organizations (organizations that provide social services directly or by government contract), and IHEs (vocational schools, community colleges, universities, etc.). IHEs were required to provide a 25% match of their awards with funds or non-monetary support such as services and facilities. The law specified that subgrantees could carry out selected activities on campuses and in communities, such as conducting needs assessments to examine pregnancy and parenting resources on campuses and within communities, as well as setting goals for improving such resources and access to them. Other activities could include annually assessing the performance of subgrantees in meeting the needs of participants with regard to child care, flexible or alternative academic scheduling, parenting education, basic provisions, and including maternity coverage and availability of riders for additional family members in student health coverage. Offices of State Attorneys General State grantees were required to partner with their state's office of the attorney general to provide specified activities-intervention services, accompaniment services, and supportive social services-targeted to individuals of any age who were pregnant or had been pregnant in the past year and were victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Intervention services meant 24-hour telephone hotline services for police protection and referral to shelters. Accompaniment services meant assisting, representing, and accompanying a woman in seeking judicial relief for restraining orders and help with filing criminal charges, among other activities. Supportive social services meant transitional and permanent housing, vocational counseling, and individual

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