Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB2974 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 2974
5	5	To require public institutions of higher education to disseminate information
6	6	on the rights of, and accommodations and resources for, pregnant stu-
7	7	dents, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	SEPTEMBER28 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER22), 2023
10	10	Mr. R
11	11	UBIO(for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. SCOTTof
12	12	Florida, Mr. W
13	13	ICKER, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill;
14	14	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
15	15	cation, Labor, and Pensions
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To require public institutions of higher education to dissemi-
18	18	nate information on the rights of, and accommodations
19	19	and resources for, pregnant students, and for other pur-
20	20	poses.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pregnant Students’ 4
25	25	Rights Act of 2023’’. 5
26	26	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
27	27	Congress finds the following: 7
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31	31	(1) Female students who are enrolled at institu-1
32	32	tions of higher education and experiencing un-2
33	33	planned pregnancies may face pressure that their 3
34	34	only option is to receive an abortion or risk academic 4
35	35	failure. 5
36	36	(2) 27.6 percent of all abortions in the United 6
37	37	States are performed on women of college age, be-7
38	38	tween the ages of 20 and 24, according to a 2019 8
39	39	report by the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-9
40	40	vention. 10
41	41	(3) A significant proportion of abortions in the 11
42	42	United States are performed on women of college 12
43	43	age who may be unaware of their rights under title 13
44	44	IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 14
45	45	U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) or deprived of an alternative to 15
46	46	receiving an abortion. 16
47	47	(4) Additionally, women on college campuses 17
48	48	may fear institutional reprisal, loss of athletic schol-18
49	49	arship, and possible negative impact on academic op-19
50	50	portunities. 20
51	51	(5) An academic disparity exists because of the 21
52	52	lack of resources, support, and notifications available 22
53	53	for female college students who do not wish to re-23
54	54	ceive an abortion or who carry their unborn babies 24
55	55	to term. 25
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59	59	SEC. 3. NOTICE OF PREGNANT STUDENT RIGHTS, ACCOM-1
60	60	MODATIONS, AND RESOURCES. 2
61	61	Section 485 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 3
62	62	U.S.C. 1092) is amended by adding at the end the fol-4
63	63	lowing: 5
64	64	‘‘(n) P
65	65	REGNANTSTUDENTS’ RIGHTS, ACCOMMODA-6
66	66	TIONS, ANDRESOURCES.— 7
67	67	‘‘(1) I
68	68	NFORMATION DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES ; 8
69	69	ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTOCOL .— 9
70	70	‘‘(A) I
71	71	N GENERAL.—Each public institu-10
72	72	tion of higher education participating in any 11
73	73	program under this title shall— 12
74	74	‘‘(i) in a manner consistent with title 13
75	75	IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 14
76	76	(20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), carry out the in-15
77	77	formation dissemination activities de-16
78	78	scribed in subparagraph (B) for admitted 17
79	79	but not enrolled and enrolled students (in-18
80	80	cluding those attending or planning to at-19
81	81	tend less than full time) on the rights and 20
82	82	resources (including protections and ac-21
83	83	commodations) for pregnant students (or 22
84	84	students who may become pregnant) while 23
85	85	enrolled at such institution of higher edu-24
86	86	cation that— 25
87	87	‘‘(I) exclude abortion services; 26
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91	91	‘‘(II) may help such a student 1
92	92	carry their unborn babies to term; and 2
93	93	‘‘(III) include information on how 3
94	94	to file a complaint with the Depart-4
95	95	ment if such a student believes there 5
96	96	was a violation of title IX of the Edu-6
97	97	cation Amendments of 1972 (20 7
98	98	U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) by the institution 8
99	99	on account of such student’s preg-9
100	100	nancy; and 10
101	101	‘‘(ii) establish a protocol to meet with 11
102	102	a student described in clause (i)(III), 12
103	103	which shall include a meeting with relevant 13
104	104	leadership at the institution of higher edu-14
105	105	cation, and other relevant parties. 15
106	106	‘‘(B) D
107	107	ESCRIPTION OF INFORMATION DIS -16
108	108	SEMINATION REQUIREMENTS .—The information 17
109	109	dissemination activities described in this sub-18
110	110	paragraph shall include— 19
111	111	‘‘(i) annual campus-wide emails; or 20
112	112	‘‘(ii) the provision of information in 21
113	113	student handbooks, at each orientation for 22
114	114	enrolled students, or on the publicly avail-23
115	115	able website of the institution of higher 24
116	116	education. 25
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120	120	‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS .— 1
121	121	‘‘(A) I
122	122	N GENERAL.—Each public institu-2
123	123	tion of higher education participating in any 3
124	124	program under this title shall— 4
125	125	‘‘(i) on an annual basis, compile and 5
126	126	submit to the Secretary— 6
127	127	‘‘(I) responses to the questions 7
128	128	described in subparagraph (B) from 8
129	129	students enrolled at such institution 9
130	130	of higher education who voluntarily 10
131	131	provided such responses; and 11
132	132	‘‘(II) a description of any actions 12
133	133	taken by the institution of higher edu-13
134	134	cation to address each complaint by a 14
135	135	student that there was a violation of 15
136	136	title IX of the Education Amendments 16
137	137	of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) by 17
138	138	the institution on account of such stu-18
139	139	dent’s pregnancy, including any ac-19
140	140	tions taken in accordance with the 20
141	141	protocol established under paragraph 21
142	142	(1)(A)(ii); and 22
143	143	‘‘(ii) ensure that any such responses 23
144	144	remain confidential and do not reveal any 24
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148	148	personally identifiable information with re-1
149	149	spect to a student. 2
150	150	‘‘(B) Q
151	151	UESTIONS FOR ENROLLED STU -3
152	152	DENTS.—The questions described in this sub-4
153	153	paragraph shall include— 5
154	154	‘‘(i) if such student experienced an 6
155	155	unexpected pregnancy while enrolled at the 7
156	156	institution of higher education; 8
157	157	‘‘(ii) if such student felt there were 9
158	158	adequate resources on campus relating to 10
159	159	protections, accommodations, and other re-11
160	160	sources for pregnant students besides abor-12
161	161	tion-related services; 13
162	162	‘‘(iii) if such a student believes there 14
163	163	was a violation of title IX of the Education 15
164	164	Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et 16
165	165	seq.) by the institution on account of such 17
166	166	student’s pregnancy; and 18
167	167	‘‘(iv) if such student considered drop-19
168	168	ping out or withdrawing from classes be-20
169	169	cause of pregnancy, new motherhood, still-21
170	170	birth, or miscarriage. 22
171	171	‘‘(C) R
172	172	EPORT.—The Secretary shall, on an 23
173	173	annual basis— 24
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177	177	‘‘(i) prepare a report that compiles 1
178	178	the responses received under subparagraph 2
179	179	(A) from each public institution of higher 3
180	180	education participating in any program 4
181	181	under this title; and 5
182	182	‘‘(ii) submit such report to the author-6
183	183	izing committees, and the Committees on 7
184	184	Appropriations of the House of Represent-8
185	185	atives and the Senate.’’. 9
186	186	Æ
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