Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Chair Feeney, Chair Murphy, and Members of the Joint Committee on Financial Services:
I am submitting testimony on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts. PM is a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic.
We urge you to give a favorable report to S.784/H.1117: An Act promoting and enhancing the sustainability of birth centers and the midwifery workforce.
Recognizing the stark inequities in maternal health outcomes and the urgency of action, the Legislature passed essential maternal health legislation last session. These bills build on that work in strengthening our maternal health infrastructure.
The Health Policy Commission and the Commission on Racial Inequities in Maternal Health, the Governor, and the Legislature have recognized midwifery as a key solution in improving maternal health outcomes, and Governor Healey and your chambers showed you agree last session through the 2024 law, which created new opportunities to open freestanding birth centers and become a licensed midwife in Massachusetts.
S.784 and H.1117 promote financial sustainability for birth centers and the midwifery workforce needed for birth centers (as well as hospitals, homes, and other clinical settings). New birth centers will need stable funding and a sufficient midwife workforce to stay open, and training, education, and supports are needed for that workforce to exist. And both the centers and the workforce are necessary to provide new parents with access to reproductive care options. These bills recognize all of that and help create a robust health care system.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Cohn
Policy Director
Progressive Massachusetts
