119-hres231

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 231 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 231

 Recognizing the longstanding and invaluable contributions of Black 
 midwives to maternal and infant health in the United States.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 18, 2025

 Ms. Moore of Wisconsin (for herself, Ms. Adams, and Ms. Underwood) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
 on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
 jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Recognizing the longstanding and invaluable contributions of Black 
 midwives to maternal and infant health in the United States.

Whereas recognizing the day of March 14, 2025, as ``Black Midwives Day'' 
 underscores the importance of midwifery in helping to achieve better 
 maternal health outcomes by addressing fundamental gaps in access to 
 high-quality care and multiple aspects of well-being;
Whereas the Black Midwives Day campaign, founded in 2023 and led by the National 
 Black Midwives Alliance, establishes Black Midwives Day as a day of 
 awareness, activism, education, and community building;
Whereas this day is intended to increase attention for the state of Black 
 maternal health in the United States, the root causes of poor maternal 
 health outcomes, and for community-driven policies, programs, and care 
 solutions;
Whereas the United States is experiencing a maternity care desert crisis in 
 which 2,200,000 women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts 
 where they do not have access to hospitals or birth centers offering 
 maternity care or obstetric providers;
Whereas maternity care deserts lead to higher risks of maternal morbidity and 
 mortality as most complications occur in the postpartum period when 
 birthing people are far away from their providers;
Whereas midwife-led care has been shown to result in cost savings, reduced 
 medical interventions, lower cesarean rates, decreased preterm births, 
 and improved health outcomes for both mothers and infants;
Whereas midwives provide essential maternal health care services across diverse 
 settings, including homes, communities, hospitals, birth centers, 
 clinics, and health units, ensuring accessibility and continuity of 
 care;
Whereas increasing the number of Black midwives in the workforce is critical to 
 addressing maternal health disparities, as Black midwives offer 
 culturally competent care that builds trust, enhances maternal 
 satisfaction, and improves health outcomes for Black mothers and their 
 infants;
Whereas incorporating midwives fully into the United States maternity care 
 system would reduce maternal health disparities and help to address the 
 maternity care desert crisis;
Whereas, despite the medicalization of childbirth in the United States, the 
 maternal mortality rates in the United States are among the highest in 
 the high income countries, increasing rapidly, and disproportionately 
 higher among Black birthing people;
Whereas Black birthing people in the United States suffer from life-threatening 
 pregnancy complications, known as ``maternal morbidities'', twice as 
 often as White birthing people;
Whereas these deaths have devastating effects on Black children and families, 
 and the vast majority are entirely preventable through assertive efforts 
 to ensure Black birthing people have access to information, services, 
 and supports to make their own health care decisions, particularly 
 around pregnancy and childbearing;
Whereas, according to a 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report, 
 the United States maternal mortality rate for Black women has 
 continuously increased to 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births compared 
 to the decreased rate for White (14.5), Hispanic (12.4), and Asians 
 (10.7) women;
Whereas the high rates of maternal mortality among Black birthing people span 
 across income levels, education levels, and socioeconomic statuses;
Whereas structural racism, gender oppression, and the social determinants of 
 health inequities experienced by Black birthing people in the United 
 States significantly contribute to the disproportionately high rates of 
 maternal mortality and morbidity among Black birthing people;
Whereas Black birthing people are more likely to report experiences of 
 disrespect, abuse, and neglect when birthing in facility-based settings 
 as compared to White people;
Whereas Black families benefit from access to Black midwives to receive 
 culturally sensitive and congruent care established through trust and 
 respect, backed with the wisdom of time-honored techniques and best 
 practices;
Whereas the work and contributions of past and present midwives have ushered in 
 new life have done so despite a history fraught with persecution, 
 enslavement, violence, racism, and the systematic erasure of traditional 
 and lay Black midwives throughout the 20th century;
Whereas the decimation of midwifery across the Southern United States reduced 
 the numbers of Black midwives from thousands to dozens in a 50-year 
 period from the 1920s to the 1970s, leaving many communities without 
 care providers;
Whereas some States have criminalized and suppressed direct-entry midwives, 
 despite rising maternal mortality rates across the United States;
Whereas the criminalization and overregulation of midwifery disproportionately 
 impacts Black midwives and birthing families, exacerbating maternal 
 health disparities and reducing access to culturally competent care;
Whereas the resurgence of Black midwifery is a testament to the resilience, 
 resistance, and determination of spirit in the preservation of healing 
 modalities that are practiced all over the world;
Whereas the focus on holistic care, which involves caring for the whole person, 
 family, and community, is what makes a difference in midwifery;
Whereas midwifery--

    (1) honors a birthing person's right to bodily autonomy; and

    (2) can be facilitated at home, in a birth center, or hospital, and 
works in tandem with doulas, community health workers, obstetricians, 
pediatricians, and other maternal, reproductive, and perinatal health care 
providers;

Whereas the Midwifery Model of Care has been proven to have better pregnancy 
 outcomes through preventing infant mortality and morbidity, lowering 
 preterm births, reducing medical interventions, and providing the 
 birthing person continuous support;
Whereas, in 2022, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 
 (referred to in this preamble as ``CERD'') of the United Nations 
 expressed concerns regarding the impact of systemic racism and 
 intersecting factors on access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive 
 health services for women, and the limited availability of culturally 
 sensitive and respectful maternal health care, particularly for those 
 with low incomes, rural residents, individuals of African descent, and 
 Indigenous communities;
Whereas CERD recommended that the United States further develop policies and 
 programs to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the field of 
 sexual and reproductive health and rights, while integrating an 
 intersectional and culturally respectful approach in order to reduce the 
 high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity affecting racial and 
 ethnic minorities, including through midwifery care;
Whereas, in 2023, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations expressed 
 similar concerns as CERD and further recommended that the United States 
 take measures to remove restrictive and discriminatory legal and 
 practice barriers to midwifery care, including those affecting Black and 
 Indigenous peoples;
Whereas a fair distribution of resources, especially with regard to reproductive 
 health care services, is critical to closing the racial disparity gap;
Whereas an investment must be made in robust, quality, and comprehensive health 
 care for Black birthing people, and policies that support and promote 
 affordable, holistic maternal health care that is free from gender and 
 racial discrimination;
Whereas it is fitting and proper on Black Midwives Day to recognize the 
 tremendous impact of the human rights, reproductive justice, and birth 
 justice frameworks on protecting and advancing the rights of Black 
 birthing people;
Whereas Black Midwives Day is an opportunity to acknowledge the fight to end 
 maternal mortality locally and globally;
Whereas maternal health is intractably linked to infant health and the United 
 States infant mortality rate rose 3 percent from a rate of 5.44 infant 
 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021 to 5.60 infant deaths per 1,000 
 live births in 2022, the largest increase in the infant mortality rate 
 in two decades; and
Whereas Congress must mitigate the effects of systemic and structural racism, to 
 ensure that all Black people have access to midwives, doulas, and other 
 community-based, culturally matched perinatal health providers: Now, 
 therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) encourages Federal, State, and local governments to 
 take proactive measures to address racial disparities in 
 maternal health outcomes by supporting initiatives aimed at 
 diversifying the perinatal workforce, increasing access to 
 culturally congruent maternal health care;

    (2) commits to collaborating with relevant stakeholders to 
 develop and enact policy solutions that promote health equity, 
 address systemic racism, and support the advancement of Black 
 midwifery;

    (3) calls for increased funding for education and training, 
 increased access to Black preceptors, removing barriers and 
 restrictions to said preceptors, providing financial pathways 
 to support students and preceptors, and mentorship programs 
 that focus on promoting and sustaining Black midwifery and 
 removing barriers related to accreditation by recognizing 
 midwives across all training pathways;

    (4) encourages Federal and State governments to authorize 
 the autonomous practice of all midwives to the full extent of 
 their training;

    (5) promotes the authorization or reauthorization of 
 funding for TRICARE and Medicaid coverage of maternity care 
 provided by midwives of all training pathways;

    (6) encourages Federal, State, and local governments to 
 take active steps to destigmatize and decriminalize midwifery 
 pathways in the pregnant person's setting of choice, including 
 their homes, birth centers, clinics, or health units; and

    (7) supports and recognizes the longstanding and invaluable 
 contributions of Black midwives to maternal and infant health 
 in the United States.
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