IV 
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 jurisdic-
tion 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, estab-
lishes Black Midwives Day as a day of awareness, activ-
ism, education, and community building; 
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•HRES 231 IH 
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 mater-
nal 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 out-
comes for both mothers and infants; 
Whereas midwives provide essential maternal health care 
services across diverse settings, including homes, commu-
nities, 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 dis-
parities, 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 dis-
parities and help to address the maternity care desert cri-
sis; 
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•HRES 231 IH 
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 coun-
tries, 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 chil-
dren and families, and the vast majority are entirely pre-
ventable through assertive efforts to ensure Black birth-
ing people have access to information, services, and sup-
ports to make their own health care decisions, particu-
larly around pregnancy and childbearing; 
Whereas, according to a 2023 Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention Report, the United States maternal mor-
tality rate for Black women has continuously increased to 
50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to the de-
creased 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 lev-
els, 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 con-
tribute to the disproportionately high rates of maternal 
mortality and morbidity among Black birthing people; 
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•HRES 231 IH 
Whereas Black birthing people are more likely to report expe-
riences of disrespect, abuse, and neglect when birthing in 
facility-based settings as compared to White people; 
Whereas Black families benefit from access to Black mid-
wives 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 mid-
wives have ushered in new life have done so despite a his-
tory fraught with persecution, enslavement, violence, rac-
ism, 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 di-
rect-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 re-
ducing 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; 
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•HRES 231 IH 
Whereas midwifery— 
(1) honors a birthing person’s right to bodily auton-
omy; 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 pro-
viders; 
Whereas the Midwifery Model of Care has been proven to 
have better pregnancy outcomes through preventing in-
fant mortality and morbidity, lowering preterm births, re-
ducing medical interventions, and providing the birthing 
person continuous support; 
Whereas, in 2022, the Committee on the Elimination of Ra-
cial Discrimination (referred to in this preamble as 
‘‘CERD’’) of the United Nations expressed concerns re-
garding the impact of systemic racism and intersecting 
factors on access to comprehensive sexual and reproduc-
tive health services for women, and the limited avail-
ability 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 eth-
nic 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 
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