Introduced on National Maternal Health Awareness Day, this community-driven legislation — crafted by women of color, for women of color — will help address racial and ethnic maternal health disparities
LANSING, Mich. (Jan. 23, 2025) — Today, in commemoration of National Maternal Health Awareness Day, Sens. Erika Geiss (D-Taylor), Mary Cavanagh (D-Redford Twp.), Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing), Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), and Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) reintroduced “Momnibus,” a multi-faceted bill package comprised of Senate Bills 29-39. The legislation works to improve integrity and accountability in Michigan’s maternal health care system, ensuring every family has an equitable opportunity to have a healthy, joyful pregnancy and birthing experience.
“The reintroduction of the Momnibus represents a critical step toward making maternal health care in Michigan safer, more equitable, and inclusive. The Momnibus will help reduce maternal death by addressing the racial disparities that have long plagued our health care systems, thus ensuring all families experience the dignity and joy of safe pregnancies and childbirth,” said Sen. Geiss, lead sponsor of the bill package. “By collecting data to inform efforts to improve maternal health and expand access to midwifery and culturally centered, humanized care, the Momnibus prioritizes the support and services many families seek for their prenatal and childbearing journey. Ensuring healthy pregnancies and equitable care must transcend partisan, racial, class, and economic divides, as every family deserves access to the care they need to thrive.”
The Momnibus bills were initially introduced in the spring of last year and later passed by the Senate with bipartisan support. Today’s reintroduction on National Maternal Health Awareness Day reinforces a commitment to ensuring healthy outcomes for Michigan moms and babies and enables the bills to quickly begin moving through the legislative process again.
“Women of color have systematically faced disproportionate outcomes in their birthing experiences, leading to preventable complications and high mortality rates for mothers and babies,” said Sen. Cavanagh. “Michigan families, those starting and expanding, deserve a birthing experience that provides safety, protections, and options that are right for them. Detroit, a city within the district I represent, has recorded Black infant deaths four times higher than that of their white counterparts — which is simply unacceptable. Our bill package works to address these disparities and ensure every Michigan mother can experience a healthy, empowering pregnancy and birth.”
This legislation builds on existing community-driven programs and has garnered support from various maternal health advocacy organizations. Together, the following bills aim to improve maternal health in Michigan through equitable data requirements, antidiscrimination measures, patient protections, and more:
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Senate Bill 29 (Sen. Geiss): Requires the Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to include studies and reports on biased or unjust perinatal care, including but not limited to instances of obstetric violence or racism, on their website. The bill also codifies the use and duties of the Maternal Mortality Review Team.
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Senate Bill 30 (Sen. Geiss): Creates the Biased and Unjust Care Reporting Act and directs DHHS to create a tool for patients to self-report experiences of obstetric racism.
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Senate Bill 31 (Sen. Cavanagh): Requires hospitals to provide the Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) with evidence that they have policies in place to support patient protections and ensure that patients can bring their doula, spouse, or companion with them during labor.
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Senate Bill 32 (Sen. Cavanagh): Upon request from DHHS, the Dept. of Insurance and Financial Services will collect information on medical malpractice insurers’ policies related to perinatal care services.
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Senate Bill 33 (Sen. Anthony): Ensures pregnancy status does not affect the right for a designated patient advocate to make life-sustaining treatment decisions.
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Senate Bill 34 (Sen. Chang): Amends the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to make clear that “sex” includes but is not limited to pregnancy or lactation status in public places and in the workplace.
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Senate Bill 35 (Sen. Santana): Establishes a non-punitive plan of safe care for an infant and parent if the infant has been affected by alcohol or a controlled substance.
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Senate Bill 36 (Sen. Anthony): Amends the Public Health Code to add licensed midwives and midwifery programs to the Michigan Essential Health Provider Repayment program.
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Senate Bill 37 (Sen. Santana): Requires private insurers to reimburse licensed midwives for services.
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Senate Bill 38 (Sen. Santana): Expands Medicaid coverage for perinatal and gynecological services.
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Senate Bill 39 (Sen. Anthony): Requires Medicaid coverage for off-site or remote ultrasound procedures and fetal nonstress tests.
“Black women have long been silenced, especially in health care spaces, resulting in inadequate medical care that fails to protect their well-being. We cannot continue to allow these systems to disregard our voices,” said Sen. Anthony. “It’s time to empower Black mothers and ensure they receive the high-quality, compassionate care everyone deserves. This legislation is a critical step toward addressing the systemic barriers Black mothers face and creating a health care system that truly supports their needs.”
“It should go without saying — all people deserve a health care system that truly listens to them and provides them with quality care, regardless of the color of their skin,” said Sen. Chang. “The Momnibus bill package offers a solution to address the multiple barriers that Black expectant moms and other moms of color face during their pregnancy, ensuring they and their babies are healthy throughout the childbirth process and the months that follow. I’m proud to reintroduce this comprehensive legislation on National Maternal Health Awareness Day alongside my Senate colleagues, taking crucial steps to advance equity and address discrimination in our health care system.”
“Giving birth is an intensely vulnerable yet incredibly special experience, and every mother deserves access to quality health care that respects their wishes,” said Sen. Santana. “Unfortunately, for far too long, Black mothers have faced inequities in care and a lack of respect for their choices. It’s time we ensure all mothers have the ability to make their own decisions about their own care.”
“The reintroduction of the Michigan Momnibus in this new legislative session underscores the importance of ensuring a positive and supportive childbirth experience, and that every family deserves access to a comprehensive framework of care,” said Cassy Jones-McBryde, Founder and Executive Director of the Michigan Chamber for Reproductive Justice and Policy Director for the Michigan State of Birth Justice coalition. “These bills continue to reflect the bipartisan commitment to ensuring that all Michiganders receive the support they need to experience childbirth with dignity, agency, and joy.”
“The Michigan Momnibus centers equity and love, and all families deserve that; everybody has been born. Birth is bipartisan. Birth unites us,” said licensed midwife Nicole White, Director of MI State of Birth Justice and cofounder of Birth Detroit. “This package, designed with all families in mind, will increase access to midwifery care and honor and affirm the human rights and dignity of all birthing families across Michigan, whether the birth is at home, in a hospital, or at a birth center. Families deserve quality and safe maternal care.”