Reproductive Equity Now Applauds Passage of Comprehensive Maternal Health Care Package
Legislation that will expand access to midwifery care, out-of-hospital birthing options now heads to Governor Healey's desk
BOSTON (August 15, 2024) – Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now, released the following statement after a comprehensive legislative package to address the worsening maternal health crisis passed out of the Massachusetts legislature in an informal session. The bill now heads to Governor Maura Healey’s desk.
The legislation includes several of Reproductive Equity Now's 2023-24 priorities, including provisions to create a pathway to licensure for Certified Professional Midwives and instruction to the Department of Public Health (DPH) to update and revise the regulations that govern freestanding birth centers in the state. The comprehensive maternal health omnibus bill also contains measures to increase access to doulas, lactation support, and mental health screenings and services.
“Today marks an historic day in our Commonwealth’s fight to ensure reproductive equity for every person," said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. "By unlocking the power of midwives and removing barriers to the creation of freestanding birth centers, this package will help address the worsening maternal health crisis, improve birthing outcomes, support new mothers, lower health care costs, and ensure that people can make the reproductive health care decisions that are right for them with autonomy and dignity. We are grateful to the Special Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health, the Bay State Birth Coalition, and the team of advocates who fought long and hard to bring this issue to the forefront. Thank you to the Massachusetts legislature for realizing the urgency of this crisis and taking meaningful action to save lives.”
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. New Hampshire has four birth centers and Maine has three, both states with 80% fewer births each year than Massachusetts. With this legislation, Massachusetts will join the 38 other states– including New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island– already have a pathway to licensing certified professional midwives, a key workforce for birth centers as well as home births, across the U.S.
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