I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3344 

To provide grants for the conduct of demonstration projects designed to 

provide education and training for eligible individuals to enter and follow 

a career pathway in the field of pregnancy or childbirth, under the 

health profession opportunity grant program under section 2008 of the 

Social Security Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2019 

Ms. MOORE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide grants for the conduct of demonstration projects 

designed to provide education and training for eligible 

individuals to enter and follow a career pathway in the 

field of pregnancy or childbirth, under the health profession opportunity grant program under section 2008 of 

the Social Security Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Opportunities to Sup5 port Mothers and Deliver Children Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO PRO2 VIDE CAREER PATHWAYS IN THE FIELD OF 

3 PREGNANCY OR CHILDBIRTH. 

4 Section 2008 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 1397g) is amended by redesignating subsection (d) as sub6 section (e) and inserting after subsection (c) the following: 

7 ‘‘(c) DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS TO PROVIDE CA8 REER PATHWAYS IN THE FIELD OF PREGNANCY OR

9 CHILDBIRTH.— 

10 ‘‘(1) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary, in 

11 consultation with the Secretary of Labor and the 

12 Secretary of Education, shall award grants in ac13 cordance with this subsection to eligible entities to 

14 conduct demonstration projects for the purpose of 

15 providing education and training for eligible individ16 uals to enter and follow a career pathway in the field 

17 of pregnancy or childbirth, in a State that recognizes 

18 doulas or midwives as health care providers and that 

19 provides payment for services provided by doulas or 

20 midwives, as the case may be, under the State plan 

21 approved under title XIX. 

22 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—A demonstration project shall 

23 be conducted under this subsection for not less than 

24 3 years. 

25 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—An appli26 cant seeking a grant under this subsection for a 


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1 demonstration project shall submit to the Secretary 

2 an application for the grant, that includes the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(A) A description of the partnerships, 

5 strategic staff hiring decisions, tailored program 

6 activities, or other programmatic elements of 

7 the project that are designed to support a 

8 strong career pathway in pregnancy, birth, or 

9 post-partum services. 

10 ‘‘(B) A demonstration that the State in 

11 which the project is to be conducted recognizes 

12 and permits doulas and midwives to practice in 

13 the State. 

14 ‘‘(C) A demonstration that the applicant 

15 has experience working with low-income popu16 lations, or a description of the plan of the appli17 cant to work with a partner that has the experi18 ence. 

19 ‘‘(4) EVALUATIONS.—The Secretary shall, by 

20 grant, contract, or interagency agreement, conduct 

21 rigorous and well-designed evaluations of the dem22 onstration projects for which a grant is made under 

23 this section, which shall include identification of suc24 cessful activities for creating opportunities for devel25 oping and sustaining, particularly with respect to 


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1 low-income individuals and other entry-level workers, 

2 a doula-to-midwife workforce career pathway that 

3 has accessible entry points, that meets high stand4 ards for education, training, certification, and pro5 fessional development, and that provides increased 

6 wages and affordable benefits, including health care 

7 coverage, that are responsive to the needs of the 

8 workforce. 

9 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

10 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi11 ble entity’ means any of the following entities 

12 that demonstrates in an application submitted 

13 under this subsection that the entity has the ca14 pacity to fully develop and administer the dem15 onstration project described in the application: 

16 ‘‘(i) A local workforce development 

17 board established under section 107 of the 

18 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 

19 Act. 

20 ‘‘(ii) A State or territory, a political 

21 subdivision of a State or territory, or an 

22 agency of a State, territory, or such a po23 litical subdivision. 

24 ‘‘(iii) An Indian tribe, a tribal organi25 zation, or a tribal college or university. 


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1 ‘‘(iv) An institution of higher edu2 cation (as defined in the Higher Education 

3 Act of 1965). 

4 ‘‘(v) A hospital (as defined in section 

5 1861(e)). 

6 ‘‘(vi) A skilled nursing facility (as de7 fined in section 1819(h)(1)(A)). 

8 ‘‘(vii) A Federally qualified health 

9 center (as defined in section 1861(aa)(4)). 

10 ‘‘(viii) A nonprofit organization de11 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal 

12 Revenue Code of 1986, a labor organiza13 tion, or an entity with shared labor-man14 agement oversight, that has a dem15 onstrated history of providing health pro16 fession training to eligible individuals. 

17 ‘‘(ix) An entity recognized by a State, 

18 Indian tribe, or tribal organization as 

19 qualified to train doulas or midwives, if 

20 midwives or doulas, as the case may be, 

21 are permitted to practice medicine in the 

22 State involved. 

23 ‘‘(x) An opioid treatment program (as 

24 defined in section 1861(iii)(2)). 


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1 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

2 ‘eligible individual’ means an individual whose 

3 income does not exceed 138 percent of the Fed4 eral poverty level. 

5 ‘‘(C) MIDWIFE.—The term ‘midwife’ 

6 means a certified midwife, certified professional 

7 midwife, licensed midwife, and tribally-recog8 nized midwife. 

9 ‘‘(D) CERTIFIED MIDWIFE.—The term 

10 ‘certified midwife’ means an individual who is 

11 certified by the American Midwifery Certifi12 cation Board to practice midwifery. 

13 ‘‘(E) CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL MID14 WIFE.—The term ‘certified professional mid15 wife’ means an individual who— 

16 ‘‘(i) is certified by the North Amer17 ican Registry of Midwives to practice mid18 wifery for normal, low-risk pregnancies and 

19 childbirths; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) has completed— 

21 ‘‘(I) a midwifery education pro22 gram accredited by the Midwifery 

23 Education and Accreditation Council 

24 or any other entity recognized by the 

25 Department of Education; or 


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1 ‘‘(II) the requirements to obtain 

2 a Midwifery Bridge Certificate from 

3 the North American Registry of Mid4 wives, and maintains the certification 

5 by completing any required continuing 

6 education for the certification. 

7 ‘‘(F) LICENSED MIDWIFE.—The term ‘li8 censed midwife’ means, with respect to a State, 

9 an individual who is licensed under State law to 

10 practice midwifery. 

11 ‘‘(G) TRIBALLY-RECOGNIZED MIDWIFE.— 

12 The term ‘tribally-recognized midwife’ means 

13 an individual who is recognized by an Indian 

14 tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian 

15 Health Care Improvement Act) to practice mid16 wifery for the tribe. 

17 ‘‘(6) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any funds in the 

18 Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro19 priated, there are appropriated to the Secretary to 

20 carry out this subsection $10,000,000 for fiscal year 

21 2020.’’. 

22 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 

24 on October 1, 2019. 

Æ 


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