The House on May 9 passed, 419-2, a bill (H.R. 4365) to reauthorize and extend children’s health research programs. The measure, sponsored by Reps. Michael Bilirakis (R-FL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), bypassed committee action and was considered by the House under suspension of the rules. “On Sunday, we will celebrate Mother’s Day to honor millions of women for the loving care they provide. I can think of no better gift to them than passage of this legislation to protect children from the threat of disease,” stated Rep. Bilirakis.
Despite the overwhelming support for the bill, the House Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment was forced to cancel a mark-up of an earlier version of the bill (H.R. 3301) because of disagreements over a number of controversial amendments dealing with tobacco, managed care, adoption counseling, abortifacients, and fetal tissue research that subcommittee members threatened to offer.
H.R. 4365 would establish a pediatric research initiative at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at increasing support for pediatric biomedical research. The bill also would authorize research and prevention activities dealing with hearing loss in infants, autism, poisoning, folic acid and birth defects, safe motherhood, drug, alcohol, and smoking prevention and cessation for pregnant mothers, Fragile X, juvenile epilepsy, asthma, juvenile arthritis, childhood skeletal malignancies, juvenile diabetes, traumatic brain injury, Healthy Start, oral health, Hepatitis C, and rare diseases. The bill includes the Safe Motherhood Monitoring and Prevention Research Act (H.R. 2316), sponsored by Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Nita Lowey (D-NY). H.R. 2316 would establish a national surveillance and monitoring program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate deaths and severe complications from pregnancy. Additionally, the bill would expand the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System and the Health Epidemiology Program to all 50 states. The CDC also would be authorized to expand research on risk factors and prevention strategies relating to safe motherhood and to implement a public education campaign to promote safe motherhood.
“It is critical that we give CDC the tools they need to collect data, investigate maternal deaths, research risks, and examine problems like domestic violence during pregnancy,” stated Rep. Lowey.
Additionally, the final bill includes compromise language dealing with adoption counseling training. Under the provision, Title X clinics would not be mandated to provide training on adoption counseling; however, the federal government would be allowed to monitor clinics to see whether such training was occurring. The language is a narrower version of a bill (H.R. 2511) sponsored by Rep. Jim DeMint (R-SC).
Speaking in support of the compromise language, Rep. DeMint stated, “I hope that this step significantly advances our nation in the direction of eliminating a perceived anti-adoption bias in pregnancy counseling,” adding: “Women facing unplanned pregnancies deserve to hear about their options from a well-trained counselor who can provide accurate, up-to-date information on adoption.”
