Sponsors (2)
The bill expands federal research, clinician training, and grant-funded maternal mental health services and supports for people who experience pregnancy loss—improving access and local capacity—while including provider exclusions, program rules, and modest funding that may limit providers, leave coverage gaps for some patients, and slow implementation.
People who experience pregnancy loss (women and those who have been pregnant) gain eligibility for federally funded clinical maternal mental health services, increasing access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
Families affected by pregnancy loss (parents and household members) can receive practical supportive services — transportation, attendant/home care, respite/day care, and financial counseling — improving care continuity and daily functioning.
Community providers (public and nonprofit) can expand outpatient, home-based, and inpatient maternal mental health capacity through grant subawards, strengthening local service infrastructure.
Women in some communities — especially rural areas — may have fewer available providers because entities that perform or fund most abortions are barred from receiving subgrants, shrinking the provider pool.
Low-income, uninsured, or underinsured people could face care gaps if grant rules prohibit using funds where other coverage exists and payers deny claims or delay reimbursements.
Nonprofits and healthcare organizations may be deterred from applying by certification-and-repayment enforcement (risk of having to repay grants for alleged violations), reducing program uptake and provider participation.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Expands NIMH research on mental health after pregnancy loss and authorizes grants to build service systems for screening, treatment, and supports; $4.5M per year FY2027–FY2028 is authorized.
Directs the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and NIH to expand research on clinical mental health conditions that follow pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion), including persistent complex bereavement disorder, and funds a national longitudinal study and related programs. Adds people who experienced pregnancy loss to the maternal clinical mental health grant program, allows grant projects to build service systems (screening, outpatient/inpatient care, home-based services, supports like transportation and respite), and sets program rules including funding limits, administrative caps, and restrictions on certain organizations that perform or fund abortions (with exceptions). Funding of $4.5 million per year is authorized for FY2027 and FY2028 for research activities.
Official title: To provide research on, and services for, individuals with clinical mental health complications following a pregnancy loss, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 29, 2026 by Addison P. McDowell · Last progress May 29, 2026