IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1444 

Acknowledging and thanking America’s birth centers for their high quality 

and high value model of health care, and expressing support for the 

recognition of the week of September 14 through 20, 2024, as ‘‘National 

Birth Center Week’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 

Mrs. KIM of California (for herself and Ms. KELLY of Illinois) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Acknowledging and thanking America’s birth centers for 

their high quality and high value model of health care, 

and expressing support for the recognition of the week 

of September 14 through 20, 2024, as ‘‘National Birth 

Center Week’’. 

Whereas a birth center is a freestanding health care facility 

where safe, midwifery-led care supports the processes of 

birth, newborn, and parent transition, as well as communitywide wellness; 

Whereas birth centers are a key part of the health care system and are guided by the principles of safety, prevention, patient and family centered care, sensitivity, approVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:33 Sep 13, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1444.IH HR1444

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HRES 1444 IH 

priate medical intervention, shared decisionmaking, and 

cost effectiveness; 

Whereas over 400 birth centers across the United States provide patient and family centered health care that includes 

a broad range of services such as wellness exams, prenatal care, childbirth and postpartum care, newborn 

exams, STI screenings and treatments, contraceptive 

care, and family building services; 

Whereas birth centers are based on the midwifery model of 

care which combines millennia of childbearing knowledge 

with modern technology and skills; 

Whereas 60 percent of mothers giving birth in the United 

States meet risk criteria for birth center care; 

Whereas the safety and efficacy of midwifery-led community 

birth centers have been repeatedly documented over four 

decades, and two large-scale national birth centers’ studies published in 1989 and 2013 documented safe and 

cost-effective care in birth centers; 

Whereas, in 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 

Services-funded, five-year Strong Start Initiative demonstrated that birth center care significantly reduces 

preterm and low-birthweight births and cesarean section 

rates, and increases breastfeeding rates and duration for 

Medicaid beneficiaries, leading to better health and high 

value for childbearing women and infants; 

Whereas a 2020 study demonstrated that rural families cared 

for in birth centers, including those who transferred to 

higher levels of care, had lower incidences of episiotomy, 

cesarean birth, and induction, and had higher rates of exclusive breastfeeding, higher average birthweight in 

pounds and higher Apgar scores at five minutes; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HRES 1444 IH 

Whereas the number of families seeking community birth 

continues to grow, and according to National Vital Statistics Reports, between 2019 and 2022, there was a 

33.2-percent increase in families opting to give birth in 

community settings, including a 51.5-percent increase for 

Black families, a 57-percent increase for Native American families, a 51.5-percent increase for Hispanic families, and a 28-percent increase for White and Asian families; 

Whereas a 2022 research study found that community birth 

centers, especially those providing culturally centered 

care, enhance the experience of perinatal care for patients and families in rural, minority, and underserved 

communities; 

Whereas birth centers based on the midwifery model of care 

are indisputable solutions to the ongoing crisis in the 

United States perinatal care system, a system which 

ranks poorly in comparison to other high-resource countries and suffers from multiple disparities in rural, minority, and underserved communities; 

Whereas every person deserves access to a birth center, and 

the public deserves to understand the demonstrated effectiveness of freestanding birth center care that is led by 

midwives and governed by the midwifery model of care; 

and 

Whereas, in order to support these efforts, the week of September 14 through 20, 2024, would be appropriate to celebrate midwifery-led community birth, to create opportunities to grow birth centers and their safe and effective 

model of care, and to imagine a world where birth is safe, 

sacred, loving, and celebrated in every community: Now, 

therefore, be it 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HRES 1444 IH 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) acknowledges the safe, high value, family 

3 centered care being provided in America’s birth cen4 ters; 

5 (2) recognizes National Birth Center Week and 

6 encourages families, communities, health care and 

7 public health professionals, hospitals and health care 

8 institutions, health care insurers, policymakers and 

9 regulatory agencies at all levels of government, and 

10 philanthropic leaders to take this time to learn more 

11 about the safety and effectiveness of birth centers 

12 and the midwifery model of care; and 

13 (3) thanks America’s birth centers and supports 

14 increased use of the birth center model to expand 

15 access to high-quality care and improve perinatal 

16 outcomes for families across the United States. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB