A BILL to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the State Health Commissioner to establish and maintain a website that provides information about services and programs available to pregnant women; report.
HB1428 would require the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the State Health Commissioner to create and maintain a publicly accessible website, in English and Spanish, by July 1, 2027, focused on information for pregnant women. The site would need to compile resources on pregnancy counseling, mental health counseling, prepartum and postpartum services, alternatives to abortion, abortion risks, child development from conception, and a broad range of public, private, and nonprofit services available to pregnant women and families.
The website would also need to include a tailored-information portal that lets users receive customized pregnancy-related information and provide feedback on the usefulness of the portal. Within 180 days after launch, the Secretary would have to report to the General Assembly on website traffic, user feedback, service gaps, and recommendations for improving the user experience, while excluding personally identifiable information.
The bill would add a new administrative duty for the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the State Health Commissioner to build, maintain, and annually update a state-run pregnancy resource website and portal. It would not directly amend existing benefit programs or eligibility rules, but it would require the state to assemble and publish information about a wide array of services, including health care, counseling, financial aid, legal support, housing, child care, adoption, foster care, and related resources. The reporting requirement would also create a new oversight mechanism for the General Assembly to assess usage and identify service gaps.
No committee transcript or vote record is available, so there is no direct evidence of debate or recorded support/opposition. Based on the bill’s text, it appears designed as a pregnancy-support and information-access measure, with an emphasis on centralized resource navigation for pregnant and postpartum women. The bill was left in the House Committee on Health and Human Services, indicating it did not advance beyond committee at the time reflected in the record.
The most likely points of contention are the bill’s inclusion of information on alternatives to abortion, abortion risks, and abortion pill reversal, which may be viewed by supporters as providing comprehensive pregnancy information but by opponents as ideologically framed or medically disputed content. Other potential concerns include whether the state should be required to host and curate such a broad resource portal, how the information would be vetted for accuracy, and whether the website’s tailored-information feature could raise privacy or user-tracking concerns, even though the reporting requirement bars personally identifiable information.