Issues around pregnancy and parenting were front and center on Beacon Hill Wednesday as two different advocacy groups made their cases to lawmakers.
Both the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women visited the State House to urge passage of their priority bills, with pregnancy-related legislation featured on each group’s agendas.
The OB-GYN group backs one bill that would create grant programs aimed at equitably expanding access to mental health services during and after pregnancy, and another would require MassHealth to cover services from doulas, professionals who provide physical, emotional and informational support during pregnancy, labor and pregnancy loss.
The doctors also support a bill that looks to build on a 2022 state law that requires insurers to cover abortion care without copays or deductibles for patients. The bill, filed by Northampton Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa and Arlington Sen. Cindy Friedman, would eliminate patient cost-sharing for the full scope of pregnancy care, including abortion, prenatal care, childbirth and postpartum care.
Sabadosa has filed bills removing cost-sharing for abortion care before, and said an advocate once recommended to her that she include the entire spectrum of pregnancy care, expecting that lawmakers would be reluctant to address the out-of-pocket costs for abortion alone.
“Last year we did just that in Massachusetts. We eliminated copays and deductibles for abortion care, and those are many of the provisions that were included in the full-spectrum pregnancy bill, but we left out all the pieces about maternal health care,” Sabadosa said. “Those remain on the table, because at the end of the day, it was easier to talk about abortion than it was to talk about pregnancy and reproductive loss.
One of 14 priority bills for the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women takes a multipronged approach toward improving maternal health outcomes, including creating a state board of registration for midwifery and otherwise formally incorporating midwives into the state’s health care landscape.
The commission also has parents’ needs on its radar. Mary-dith Tuitt, chair of the commission’s public policy committee, singled out one bill that calls for a study into female veterans and the impacts of combat experience on motherhood.
Tuitt said the unique experiences of women in the military can go overlooked, mentioning that single mothers who serve need to assign guardianship of their children to someone else.
The state Commission on the Status of Women, which was by legislation created in 1998, is also pushing for bills that look to make child care more accessible and affordable, allow candidates for public office to spend their campaign funds on child care expenses, and provide free access to menstrual products in schools, shelters and prisons.
Gov. Maura Healey, the first woman to be elected governor of Massachusetts, told the commission members she looks forward to working with them and hearing their ideas.
“As people try to take us backwards, we’re going to lean in and go even stronger and even harder and even fiercer and more determined,” she said.
