Washington, DC – This week, Congresswoman Young Kim joined Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01) and colleagues to introduce the Care for Her Act (H.R. 5163), which would elevate the work of local communities and states to support women and their children.
The Care for Her Act would facilitate services to pregnant women to help meet the emotional, physical, social, financial and other needs they may encounter during pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing.
“No expecting mother should feel alone. Unfortunately, many women are not aware of the local, state and federal resources available to them, especially during an unplanned pregnancy,” said Congresswoman Kim. “As a mother of four, I’m proud to join my colleagues to introduce the Care for Her Act to strengthen the outreach and effectiveness of programs for education, mentoring, housing and other support services for pregnant women and their children.”
“I am pleased that so many of my colleagues are joining with me to say we should be big enough and generous enough to care for a woman and her child who need help in times of vulnerability. This is our chance to support a woman with an unexpected pregnancy all the way through birth and child-rearing. Care for Herestablishes a community of care for the journey of life,” said Congressman Fortenberry. “Care for Her ensures women know what services and support are available to them, including maternity housing, mentorship, and job training. Itprovides a tax credit to the pregnant mother with a pre-born child. And it provides performance incentives for communities that demonstrate improved maternal and child health outcomes.”
The bill would expand resources for expecting mothers by:
- Implementing a $3,600 child tax credit for the preborn;
- Creating a federal-state Pregnancy Support Collaborative and Pregnant and Parenting Women’s Care Information Service, with a toll-free number and website for mothers to receive support;
- Establishing a grant program for effective maternity housing, mentorship and job training programs;
- Providing performance incentives for communities that demonstrate improved maternal and child health outcomes.
Since coming to Congress, Rep. Young Kim has been a leader on issues empowering women and mothers. In addition to the Care for Her Act, she is a proud supporter of the following efforts:
- The TRIUMPH for New Moms Act (H.R. 4217), which would create a maternal mental health task force of federal agencies to review maternal mental health programs, coordinate resources and create a national strategy to better support new mothers and more efficiently spend taxpayer dollars;
- A bipartisan resolution (H.Res. 547) to reaffirm Congress’ support for Afghan women and girls as the Biden administration withdraws U.S. troops from the region and the Taliban expands its presence in the region;
- The Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act of 2021 (H.R. 3875), which would identify barriers and promote new public sector programs and plans to foster women’s business enterprise; and,
- The Keeping Girls in School Act (H.R. 4134), which would support empowerment, economic security and educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, among other provisions.
Reps. Kim and Fortenberry were joined in introducing the Care for Her Act by Reps. Liz Cheney (WY-At Large), Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (PR-At Large), Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), Blake Moore (UT-01), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Claudia Tenney (NY-22) and Ann Wagner (MO-02).
