[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 588 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 588
Recognizing March 14, 2024, as ``Black Midwives Day''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 14, 2024
Mr. Booker (for himself and Ms. Butler) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing March 14, 2024, as ``Black Midwives Day''.
Whereas recognizing March 14, 2024, 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 March 14th as Black Midwives Day as
a day of awareness, activism, education, and community building;
Whereas March 14, 2024, is intended to increase attention on the state of Black
maternal health in the United States, the root causes of poor maternal
health outcomes for Black birthing people, and the need 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 incorporating midwives fully into the maternity care system in the
United States 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
high-income countries, increasing rapidly and disproportionately higher
among Black birthing people;
Whereas maternal health is intractably linked to infant health, as 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 2 decades;
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 deaths from maternal morbidities have devastating effects on Black
children and families, and the vast majority of material morbidities are
entirely preventable through assertive efforts to ensure that Black
birthing people have access to information, services, and supports to
make their own health care decisions, particularly around pregnancy and
childbearing;
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 who 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 decline of midwifery across the southern United States reduced the
numbers of Black midwives from thousands to dozens throughout the 20th
century, 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 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 of Black midwifery on holistic care, which involves caring for
the whole person, family and community, is what makes a difference in
midwifery;
Whereas midwifery honors the right to bodily autonomy for the birthing person
and can be facilitated at home, in a birth center, or hospital by
working 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, including by reducing infant mortality and morbidity, 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 in
maternal health outcomes;
Whereas an investment must be made in robust, quality, and comprehensive health
care for Black birthing people, with policies that support and promote
affordable and 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 have 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, nationally, and globally; 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 Senate--
(1) recognizes March 14, 2024, as ``Black Midwives Day'';
(2) encourages the Federal Government and 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;
(3) 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;
(4) calls for increased funding for education, training,
and mentorship programs that focus on promoting and sustaining
Black midwifery across all training pathways;
(5) encourages the Federal Government and State and local
governments to authorize the autonomous practice of all
midwives to the full extent of their training;
(6) promotes TRICARE and Medicaid coverage of maternity
care provided by midwives of all training pathways in the
setting of choice of the birthing person; 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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