House UNANIMOUSLY Passes Comprehensive Maternal Health Bill
Bay State Birth Coalition Applauds Unanimous House Passage of Comprehensive Maternal Health Package
Bill will expand access to midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth options
BOSTON (June 20, 2024) – Members of the Bay State Birth Coalition and Massachusetts Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives today released the following statements after the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a comprehensive maternal health package to address the worsening maternal health crisis in the state. The package includes provisions to create a pathway to licensure for Certified Professional Midwives and to instruct the Department of Public Health (DPH) to update and revise the regulations that govern freestanding birth centers in the state. A maternal health package has also advanced to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
Emily Anesta, President of Bay State Birth Coalition: “People in Massachusetts want and deserve access to midwifery care and birth centers. This bill has the potential to significantly improve access to high-quality, personalized maternity care for countless families across our state. We are thrilled that the House today passed this omnibus package that is a powerful multi-faceted approach to addressing our urgent maternal health crisis and racial inequities.”
Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now: “We are thrilled that the Massachusetts Legislature is acting boldly to address the worsening maternal health crisis in the state, and we are grateful to Speaker Mariano, and Chairs Decker and Lawn for their work to advance this critically important package today. The provisions in this bill will help improve birthing experiences for Black and brown birthing people, lower health care costs, expand the maternal health care workforce, and give pregnant people the ability to decide how and where to give birth with dignity. Today marks a big step in the fight to improve birthing outcomes, and we now look forward to working with the Senate to get this package across the finish line this session.”
Traci Griffith, Racial Justice Program Director at the ACLU of Massachusetts: “These critical reforms for reproductive equity and racial justice have been a long time coming, and that makes today's vote especially important. Expanding care and birthing options will address persistent racial disparities in maternal and newborn health – particularly for Black women – and strengthen care for all pregnant people and their families. We're grateful to Chairs Decker and Lawn for their leadership, and to Speaker Mariano for making this bill a priority.”
Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, Director and Founder, Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice: “Midwives are true change agents and provide essential care services that could mean the difference between life and death for birthing people. Midwives need to be fully incorporated into the maternity care system, and the maternal health package before the Legislature is an essential step in our work to expand access to this critical care. We are excited that the House passed this maternal health package today, and we will keep working to see the tides change and avert maternal deaths in a meaningful way, for the first time in decades.”
Nashira Baril, Executive Director of the Neighborhood Birth Center: “With only one other birth center in the state of Massachusetts, there is an enormous need for community birth infrastructure. Every person should have access to a full range of pregnancy care and birthing options that they want, need, and deserve. The maternal health package that passed the House today will update the regulations governing licensed birth centers in Massachusetts and reduce financial and administrative barriers to the creation of free-standing birth centers, like the Neighborhood Birth Center. Additionally, now Certified Professional Midwives will be licensed and able to bring the full range of their skills to community birth centers! With today’s House passage, together we will continue to build power to redesign healthcare in ways that advance equity and justice.”
Katherine Rushfirth, CNM, FACNM, MA Affiliate of American College of Nurse MIdwives: “We know midwifery care is a key solution to our maternal health crisis. Midwifery care improves outcomes, gives families better experiences, and lowers health care spending. This comprehensive package makes it possible for pregnant people to choose the provider and location that is right for them and promises to improve access to reproductive and sexual health throughout the Commonwealth."
Rebecca Herman, CPM, MPH, National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM): “As a Certified Professional Midwife, I have seen the up-close benefits of the midwifery model of care and the freedom to decide how and where your birthing journey takes place. This bill will allow us to leverage the benefits of midwifery care to expand the maternal care workforce, increase patient autonomy, increase access to community-based care, and improve maternal and newborn outcomes.”
A July 2023 Massachusetts DPH report showed that maternal morbidity nearly doubled in the state from 2011 to 2020. Black women were 2.3 times more likely than white women to experience labor and delivery complications. Studies have shown that access to licensed midwives leads to lower mortality rates in both mothers and infants, reduced C-section rates, and increased breastfeeding rates, and that midwifery care reduces racial inequities in maternal health outcomes.
Access to adequate and equitable maternal health care is also severely lacking in Massachusetts, further exacerbated by eleven maternity ward closures across the state since 2010. Two freestanding birth centers, Cambridge Birth Center and North Shore Birth Center, have also ceased operations, leaving only one birth center in Massachusetts (Seven Sisters in Northampton). Massachusetts ranks 35th out of 44 states for share of births in birth centers.
The Bay State Birth Coalition is comprised of the ACLU of Massachusetts, the ACNM Massachusetts Affiliate, Birth Equity and Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA), Birth Rights Bar Association, The Boston Foundation, Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at Tufts University School of Medicine, Every Mother Counts, Health Care for All Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, MassNOW, Mass. PPD Fund, Massachusetts Chapter of NACPM, Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Mystic Valley Action for Reproductive Justice, National Partnership for Women & Families, Neighborhood Birth Center, North American Registry of Midwives, Our Bodies Ourselves, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, Progressive Massachusetts, Reproductive Equity Now, Resilient Sisterhood Project, Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, and YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts.
