A. The State Department of Health shall make grants, from funds appropriated by the Legislature specifically for this purpose, to a grant-supervising entity for the purpose of reimbursing private organizations in Oklahoma for the reasonable expenses of programs providing the following services:
1. Providing information on, referral to and assistance in securing the services of relevant existing programs or agencies that assist women in Oklahoma to carry their children to term, and/or providing services that assist women to carry their children to term including, but not limited to, agencies and programs that will provide medical attention for the pregnant woman for the duration of her pregnancy, nutritional support services, housing assistance, adoption services, education and employment assistance and parenting education and support services;
2. Providing women in Oklahoma, in person and through community outreach, information and/or services that encourage and assist them to carry their children to term; and
3. Providing services including, but not limited to, healthcare services to mothers and infants for the purpose of reducing the rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality in this state by three percent (3%) within five (5) years of the effective date of this act; provided, however, no funds shall be provided to an organization that provides, or whose affiliates provide, abortion services.
B. To be eligible for a service grant, an organization shall:
1. Be registered with the Oklahoma Secretary of State as a not-for-profit corporation located in Oklahoma;
2. Have the grant amount approved by a grant-supervising entity;
3. For services described in paragraphs 1 and 2 of subsection A of this section, provide each pregnant woman counseled with accurate information on the developmental characteristics of unborn children including offering the printed information described in Section 1-738.3 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
4. Assure that the grant’s sole purposes are to assist and encourage women to carry their children to term and to maximize their potentials thereafter or to reduce the rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality in this state as provided in paragraph 3 of subsection A of this section; and
5. Assure that none of the funds provided pursuant to the Choosing Childbirth Act, nor any other funds or services provided by the organization, are used to encourage or counsel a woman to have an abortion not necessary to prevent her death, to provide her such an abortion or to refer her for such an abortion.
Added by Laws 2017, c. 308, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2017. Amended by Laws 2021, c. 313, § 3, eff. July 1, 2021.