Moms.gov debuts with pro‑life resources as administration proposes fertility rule

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a website on May 10, Mother’s Day, to promote life-affirming pregnancy resources to expectant parents, such as links to information about pregnancy resource centers (PRCs).

According to an HHS news release, the website is meant to help families manage pregnancies in a healthy way and explain resources available to expectant parents navigating unexpected or otherwise difficult pregnancies. It includes information on nutrition recommendations, healthcare options, and dangers about substance abuse.

The website is part of broader efforts from President Donald Trump’s administration on fertility. The website does not reference in vitro fertilization (IVF), while the Labor Department proposed regulations May 10 to expand health insurance coverage options to IVF.

“This Motherʼs Day, the Trump administration is strengthening its commitment to Americaʼs families by equipping mothers and fathers with the resources and information they need to build healthy, prosperous lives,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a news release.

“Moms.gov delivers critical tools and support to help parents foster healthy pregnancies, strengthen young families, and create brighter futures for their children,” he said. “This is how you make America healthy again.”

The website directs people to PRCs, which often offer pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, classes for childbirth, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and support for parenting and supplies for childcare. These organizations oppose abortion.

It also directs people to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which offer healthcare to low-income Americans. Most do not perform abortion, but many do provide contraceptives and are not ideologically opposed to abortion.

The website links to dietary guidelines for pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children. It offers information on breastfeeding and how health conditions could affect pregnancy along with resources on mental health. It provides information about federal savings accounts available for children and information on low prices for prescription drugs.

Additional information on the website provides resources to fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs), which are designed to help women recognize signs of health conditions that could be causing difficulties for getting pregnant.

Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, told EWTN News the website “seems to be a creative use of government resources that strives to provide potentially useful information on a range of issues relevant to those who are pregnant or interesting in starting a family.”

He said it “largely avoids direct promotion of abortion, contraception, and in vitro fertilization, though it does link to certain outside CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] website resources that promote condoms, spermicides, sterilization, and other forms of contraception.”

“Still, it is refreshing to see a government-curated website mentioning fertility awareness-based methods as a way of promoting preconception health and assisting in situations of apparent infertility,” Pacholczyk said.

Dr. Monique Yohanan, director of the Center of Better Health at Independent Women and a medical doctor, told EWTN News she thinks the website is about “supporting pregnancy, supporting women in a holistic way” and “about supporting parenthood, supporting life.”

She noted that many of the resources refer people to information that is available elsewhere but that the website “does put it all together in a single place” and refers them to “practical help.”

“This is about offering real choice for women,” Yohanan said. “Real choice means real support.”

IVF rule proposal

The Labor Department separately announced a proposed rule that would create a category of limited excepted benefits that covers fertility-related healthcare, including IVF.

The proposed rule — which is undergoing the mandatory 60-day comment period — does not impose any mandates but instead creates more options for employers to provide coverage for IVF and other fertility-related treatments.

Some Republican and Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to require IVF coverage in insurance plans offered by employers, which the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops strongly spoke out against. Supporters of the bill claim that existing religious freedom exemptions would apply, but opponents warn that such exemptions are not expressly stated in the bill.

The Catholic Church opposes IVF because it separates fertilization from the marital act and results in the destruction of millions of human embryos that are never implanted.

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/us/hhs-launches-moms-dot-gov