This Senate resolution formally recognizes March 14, 2026, as "Black Midwives Day," frames the resurgence of Black midwifery as a response to maternal health crises, and catalogs statistics and historical context linking structural racism to poor maternal outcomes for Black women. It is a statement of values and a roadmap of policy preferences rather than an appropriation or a change in statutory law.
The resolution urges federal, state, and local governments to take proactive steps: diversify the perinatal workforce, remove barriers to midwifery education and practice, promote Medicaid and TRICARE coverage for midwife-provided maternity care, and support decriminalization and destigmatization of midwifery pathways. For professionals, it signals federal attention on scope-of-practice, payer coverage, workforce development, and state regulatory reform around midwifery.
At a Glance
What It Does
The resolution declares a commemorative day for Black midwives and urges government at all levels to pursue a package of policy actions: workforce diversification, education and preceptor funding, recognition of multiple training pathways, autonomous practice to the extent of training, and payer coverage through Medicaid and TRICARE. It recommends decriminalization and steps to reduce stigma around non-hospital births.
Who It Affects
Primary audiences include midwifery professionals (including direct-entry, certified nurse-midwives, and community midwives), midwifery education programs and preceptors, state licensing boards and legislatures that set scope-of-practice rules, and payers—specifically Medicaid programs and the Department of Defense's TRICARE system.
Why It Matters
Although nonbinding, the resolution aggregates policy priorities that, if adopted by agencies or states, would reshape credential recognition, reimbursement, and legal exposure for midwives and could accelerate workforce growth in maternity-care deserts. For compliance officers and healthcare leaders, it flags likely policy pressure points: accreditation recognition, Medicaid/TRICARE rulemaking, and state-level decriminalization campaigns.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The resolution opens with a factual and historical preamble: it cites the National Black Midwives Alliance's Black Midwives Day campaign, documents maternity care deserts affecting more than 2.3 million women of childbearing age, and reproduces CDC figures showing much higher maternal mortality rates for Black women compared with other racial groups. It also references U.N. human-rights committee findings urging removal of barriers to midwifery and culturally respectful care.
Those foundations frame the subsequent recommendations as responses to documented gaps in access and outcomes.
The operative text is made up of aspirational directives. First, the Senate recognizes the date as Black Midwives Day.
Then the resolution 'encourages' and 'calls for' a suite of actions: diversifying the perinatal workforce; increasing funding and access to Black preceptors; removing regulatory barriers tied to preceptorship and accreditation; creating financial pathways and mentorships for students and preceptors; and explicitly recognizing midwives across all training pathways. It also urges governments to authorize autonomous midwifery practice to the full extent of each practitioner's training and to promote Medicaid and TRICARE coverage for midwife-provided maternity care.The text goes beyond workforce and payer issues, urging destigmatization and decriminalization of midwifery across settings chosen by the pregnant person—home, birth center, clinic, or hospital—and committing the Senate to collaborate with stakeholders on policy solutions that address systemic racism and health equity.
The resolution conspicuously stops short of creating new federal law or directing specific appropriations; its tools are exhortation and visibility intended to influence future legislative, regulatory, and administrative action.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The resolution designates March 14, 2026, as "Black Midwives Day" and frames that designation as a vehicle for awareness and policy focus.
It calls for targeted supports for midwifery education: increased funding, financial pathways for students, and mentorship programs emphasizing Black preceptors.
The resolution urges recognition of midwives trained via all pathways and asks governments to remove barriers to accreditation and preceptorship.
It encourages federal and state authorization of autonomous midwifery practice to the full extent of practitioners' training, implicating scope-of-practice rules.
It promotes TRICARE and Medicaid coverage for maternity care provided by midwives and asks governments to destigmatize and decriminalize non-hospital midwifery settings.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Context: data, history, and international observations
The preamble assembles empirical and historical material: CDC maternal mortality statistics, the scale of maternity care deserts, the historical marginalization of Black midwives, and U.N. committee recommendations. For practitioners and policy analysts, this matters because the resolution anchors its policy asks in recognized public-health data and international human-rights critiques—language that agencies and advocacy groups will cite when pressing for programmatic or regulatory change.
Formal recognition of Black Midwives Day
Clause (1) is ceremonial: it designates the specific date for awareness. Ceremonial recognition can be a policy lever; it legitimizes advocacy campaigns, can influence agency priorities, and provides a recurring focal point for stakeholder convenings and funding announcements even though it creates no legal obligations.
Encouragement to diversify the perinatal workforce
Clause (2) instructs federal, state, and local entities to take 'proactive measures' to diversify the perinatal workforce and increase access to culturally congruent care. The clause is intentionally broad—covering everything from recruitment and scholarships to licensure pathways—and therefore serves as a template for later program design rather than prescribing precise interventions.
Commitment to stakeholder collaboration
Clause (3) directs the Senate to collaborate with relevant stakeholders to craft policy solutions addressing systemic racism and health equity. Practically, this signals anticipated engagement among lawmakers, federal agencies, professional bodies, and community groups; it creates expectations for convenings and working groups, but it does not mandate participation or set deliverables.
Specific education and preceptor supports (subclauses A–E)
Clause (4) lists concrete program ideas: increased funding for education and access to Black preceptors; removal of barriers to preceptors; financial support pathways for students and preceptors; mentorship programs; and recognition of midwives across all training pathways. This cluster is the most operationally specific portion of the resolution and points directly to where appropriations, grant programs, or accreditation policy changes would be needed to realize the goals.
Endorsement of autonomous practice to full training extent
Clause (5) encourages governments to authorize autonomous practice for all midwives consistent with their training. That recommendation intersects with state scope-of-practice law, hospital privileging policies, and malpractice frameworks—areas where statutory amendments or administrative rulemaking would be required to implement the resolution's suggestion.
Payer coverage and decriminalization
Clause (6) promotes TRICARE and Medicaid coverage for midwife-provided maternity care; clause (7) urges destigmatization and decriminalization of midwifery in settings chosen by the pregnant person. Both clauses direct attention to two technical pathways: payer policy changes (CMS, DoD) and state criminal/administrative law reform. Neither clause creates changes by itself but lays out clear policy targets for advocates and regulators.
Affirmation of Black midwives' contributions
Clause (8) reaffirms the historical and contemporary value of Black midwives. This concluding affirmation functions as moral and political framing aimed at sustaining advocacy momentum and helping justify future budgetary or legal reforms.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Black midwives and prospective Black midwifery students — the resolution's calls for preceptor access, funding, mentorships, and accreditation recognition target workforce growth and retention.
- Black birthing people and families — by prioritizing culturally congruent care and expanded midwife access, the resolution aims to improve trust, satisfaction, and health outcomes for communities disproportionately affected by maternal morbidity and mortality.
- Midwifery education programs and community-based training sites — visibility and advocacy for funding and preceptor supports create potential new revenue streams and partnerships.
- Medicaid and TRICARE beneficiaries in particularly underserved areas — the resolution's emphasis on payer coverage is designed to expand affordable access to midwife-led care for low-income and military-connected populations.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal and state payers (Medicaid programs and TRICARE) — if policymakers follow the resolution's ask, expanding reimbursement to additional midwifery pathways could increase short-term program expenditures.
- State governments and licensing boards — implementing autonomy and decriminalization recommendations will require legislative or regulatory changes, stakeholder convenings, and possible enforcement and oversight costs.
- Hospitals and health systems — integrating additional autonomous midwives and diversifying preceptorships may require changes to privileging, supervision arrangements, transfer protocols, and liability coverage.
- Accreditation and credentialing bodies — responding to pressure to recognize multiple training pathways could require updating standards, review processes, and oversight resources.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between expanding access to culturally congruent, autonomous midwifery care to reduce racial disparities, and maintaining consistent regulatory oversight, training standards, and patient safety across a fragmented landscape of state laws, accreditation systems, and payer rules; solving one side of the problem risks creating gaps or disputes on the other without careful, funded implementation.
The resolution is explicitly nonbinding and contains no appropriation language; it serves as a policy signal rather than an immediate legal change. That distinction matters for implementation: federal agencies, state legislatures, payers, and accreditation bodies would need separate rulemaking or appropriations to enact the measures the resolution recommends.
Advocates can use the resolution's language in lobbying, but it does not compel agencies like CMS or DoD to change coverage rules.
Key terms in the resolution—'all training pathways,' 'autonomous practice,' 'removing barriers'—are deliberately broad and will generate interpretation disputes. 'All pathways' could include certified nurse-midwives, certified professional midwives, and traditional direct-entry midwives, but federal program rules and state licensure statutes treat those groups differently. Practical implementation therefore faces frictions: accreditation standards, malpractice and liability frameworks, and divergent state criminal statutes could slow or reshape any reforms.
Finally, the workforce gap identified in the preamble will not close simply by changing legal status or payer rules; training capacity, clinical preceptors, and long-term funding commitments are required to translate exhortation into increased access.
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