The Sheppard–Towner Maternity and Infancy Protection Act of 1921 was a U.S. Act of Congress

Act of Congress

An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

 providing federal funding for maternity and child care. It was sponsored by Senator Morris Sheppard

Morris Sheppard

John Morris Sheppard was a Democratic United States Congressman and United States Senator from Texas. He authored the Eighteenth Amendment and introduced it in the Senate, so that he is referred to as "the father of national Prohibition."-Biography:John Morris Sheppard was born in Morris County...

 (D) of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and Representative Horace Mann Towner (R) of Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, and signed by President Warren G. Harding

Warren G. Harding

Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...

 on November 23, 1921.

The act provided for federally-financed instruction in maternal and infant health care and gave 50-50 matching funds

Matching funds

Matching funds, a term used to describe the requirement or condition that a generally minimal amount of money or services-in-kind originate from the beneficiaries of financial amounts, usually for a purpose of charitable or public good.-Charitable causes:...

 to individual US states to build women’s health care clinics. It was one of the most significant achievements of Progressive-era

Progressive Era

The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...

 maternalist reform

Maternalist reform

Maternalist Reforms in the United States were experiments in public policy that took the form of laws providing for state assistance for mothers with young children that did not have the financial support of a male member of the household. This assistance took the form of financial reimbursements,...

ers.

Reasons for the act's passage

The act was a response to the lack of adequate medical care for women and children, including reports that at least 80% of all pregnant women did not receive adequate pre-natal

Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

 care. The deficit became especially noticeable during World War I, when many potential recruits were rejected for military service due to the sequellae of childhood diseases. It was the last major Progressive legislative success before business conservatism took over in the 1920s.

Achievements

The Sheppard–Towner Act led to the creation of 3,000 child and maternal health care centers, many of these in rural areas, during the eight years it was in effect. The United States Children's Bureau

United States Children's Bureau

The United States Children's Bureau is a federal agency organized under the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Today, the bureau's operations involve improving child abuse prevention, foster care, and adoption...

 worked extensively with state-level departments of health to advise them on how to use Sheppard-Towner funding.

End of the act

Congress allowed the act's funding to lapse in 1929 after successful opposition by the American Medical Association

American Medical Association

The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...

, which saw the act as a socialist threat to its professional autonomy. This opposition was in spite of the fact that the Pediatric Section of the AMA House of Delegates had endorsed the renewal of the act. The rebuking of the Pediatric Section by the full House of Delegates led to the members of the Pediatric Section establishing the American Academy of Pediatrics

American Academy of Pediatrics

The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...

.