It was an act of legislation passed in 1921 that allowed the federal government to give aid to states for maternity, child health, and welfare programs. In 1922, it was declared unconstitutional.

The first federal welfare law of 1921 was the Sheppardâ??Towner Act. The Act, sponsored by Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas and Representative Horace Mann Towner of Iowa, provided federal funding for maternity and child care. The Act was signed by President Warren G. Harding on November 23, 1921.

Warren G. Harding passed several acts of legislation in his two and half years in office. This legislation included the Emergency Quota Act, the Emergency Tariff Act, the Budget and Accounting Act, the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act, Capper-Volstead Act, the creation of the Federal Narcotics Control Board, and the Cable Act.

Organized medicine, more specifically, the American Medical Association, played a key role in the repeal of the popular Sheppard-Towner Act in 1927. The Act was ratified over the objections of the AMA in 1921, who thought the legislation constituted "socialized medicine." The act was "a federal program prividing mathching funds to the states for the establishement of prenatal and child health centers," and was very successful. The Act was very popular in its time, so its demise was almost solely the work of the AMA and their very powerful lobbying apparatus. See W Michael Byrd and Linda A Clayton's "An American Health Dilemma, Vol 2" (Routledge, 2000)

Horace M. Towner Towner has written:

'Inaugural address of Hon. Horace M. Towner, Governor of Porto Rico' -- subject(s): Governors, Inauguration