Reproductive Equity Now Statement After Conference Committee Reaches Agreement on Maternal Health Package
BOSTON (August 14, 2024) – Reproductive Equity Now President Rebecca Hart Holder released the following statement today after Massachusetts House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on An Act promoting access to midwifery care and out-of-hospital birth options. The omnibus bill, which was passed unanimously by the House and Senate this year, includes several of Reproductive Equity Now’s legislative priorities, including 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.
“We are grateful to Senator Cindy Friedman, Representative Majorie Decker, and the entire conference committee for their tireless work to find agreement on this package, and to Senate President Spilka and Speaker Mariano for their ongoing support and leadership. We know that there has been, and continues to be, energy, excitement, and consensus behind getting this bill across the finish line and delivering for pregnant people in Massachusetts. We are thrilled that the conference committee is making sure the job gets done in an informal session,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. “The Massachusetts Legislature clearly understands that the right to reproductive health care, including care for pregnancy, delivery, miscarriage care, and abortion care, is not a realized right unless every person is able to safely access that care with dignity. By empowering midwives and removing burdensome barriers to the opening of freestanding birth centers, this legislation can deliver real advancements in birthing justice and work to address a worsening maternal health crisis in the Bay State. An agreement on this legislation signifies that our legislature is ready to turn a corner in the fight for maternal health equity in Massachusetts, and we look forward to getting it across the finish line together.”
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.
###
