MOMMIES Act Expands and Enhances Coverage for Pregnant People Enrolled in Medicaid, Including Access to Community-Based Doula Care

Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act Improves Maternal Health Care for Pregnant Individuals who are Incarcerated

MOMMIES Act Text (PDF) | Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act Text (PDF) |

Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act One-Pager (PDF)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), reintroduced two essential bills to confront the maternal mortality crisis and expand maternal health care—the Maximizing Outcomes for Moms through Medicaid Improvement and Enhancement of Services (MOMMIES) Act, to address the maternal morbidity crisis, and the Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act, to expand maternal health care to individuals who are incarcerated.

“Pregnant individuals should be met with dignity, humanity, and the care necessary to support their pregnancy and postpartum recovery,” said Representative Pressley. “Our nation has the ability to support equitable, culturally-congruent healthcare for all—and that must include reproductive and maternal care for all people, and in particular communities of color who bear the brunt of the maternal morbidity crisis and individuals behind the wall who are denied the comprehensive care they need. The MOMMIES Act and Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act make essential steps towards improving maternal health outcomes and saving lives.”

The MOMMIES Act, co-led by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), is a sweeping bill designed to reverse the nation’s rising maternal mortality rates and close the deadly racial gaps that disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and other women and birthing people of color.

Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the United States, yet millions of pregnant and postpartum people still face gaps in coverage, limited access to providers, and barriers to essential care. The MOMMIES Act directly confronts these failures by expanding Medicaid postpartum coverage, guaranteeing comprehensive benefits, and strengthening access to primary, reproductive, and community-based care.

“It is unacceptable that, year after year, more mothers continue to die as a result of our nation’s inequitable and failing health care system — especially women of color,” said Senator Booker. “The MOMMIES Act is a critical step toward building an equitable, high-quality maternal health care system that protects every mother in America.”

Between 2000 and 2014, the U.S. maternal mortality rate increased by 26 percent, even as rates declined in most other developed nations. Black women remain more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. For every death, dozens more experience severe complications with lasting consequences for their health and economic security.

What the MOMMIES Act would do:

• Extend postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage — Expands coverage from 60 days to a full 12 months after pregnancy, ensuring new mothers have sustained access to care during the most vulnerable period.
• Guarantee full Medicaid benefits — Requires all pregnant and postpartum individuals to receive comprehensive Medicaid coverage, not limited pregnancy-related benefits that vary by state.
• Expand oral health coverage — Mandates dental coverage under Medicaid and CHIP, aligning with recommendations from ACOG and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
• Launch a Maternity Care Home demonstration — Tests coordinated, community-centered models of care in at least 10 states to reduce racial, geographic, and income-based disparities in maternal and infant outcomes.
• Strengthen provider access — Restores and expands the Medicaid primary care payment rate floor to include OB/GYNs, midwives, and advanced practice clinicians.
• Increase access to doula services — Directs MACPAC to study state Medicaid coverage of doula care and requires CMS guidance to help states expand access.
• Evaluate telehealth for maternity care — Commissions a GAO study on telehealth-based maternity services and recommendations for scaling effective models nationwide.

The MOMMIES Act is cosponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Baldwin, and Tina Smith and Representatives Alma Adams, Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Hank Johnson, Summer Lee, Stephen Lynch, Doris Matsui, LaMonica McIver, Christian Menefee, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ilhan Omar, Jan Schakowsky, Rashida Tlaib, Lauren Underwood, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Wesley Bell.

The MOMMIES Act is endorsed by the Black Mamas Alliance, Symonette Strategies & Solutions, Center for American Progress, Every Mother Counts, March of Dimes, What to Expect Project, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Center for Reproductive Rights, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Planned Parenthood, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Ancient Song Doula Services, National Health Law Program, National Council of Jewish Women, Reproductive Freedom for All, and All Above All.

The full text of the MOMMIES Act is available here.

The Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act would improve maternal health care and support for pregnant individuals who are incarcerated. The Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act is informed by the People’s Justice Guarantee, Rep. Pressley’s bold vision for transforming the American criminal legal system into one that centers the dignity and humanity of all people.

Specifically, the Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act would:

• Encourage states to end the practice of shackling pregnant individuals by tying federal funding eligibility to states that enact anti-shackling laws;
• Provide funding for programs to create maternal health programs for incarcerated individuals in federal, state, and local prisons and jails, including access to doulas, healthy food and nutrition, mental health and substance use counseling, and strengthening visitation policies;
• Provide funding for states and localities to set up primary caretaker diversion programs as alternatives to incarceration for pregnant individuals and primary caretakers of minor children; and
• Create the first-ever comprehensive study to understand the scope of the maternal and infant health crisis among incarcerated individuals.

The full text of the Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act is available here.

The Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act is co-sponsored by Reps. LaMonica McIver, Rashida Tlaib, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Gwen Moore, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Hank Johnson, Glenn Ivey, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Christian Menefee, Wesley Bell, Seth Moulton, Yvette Clarke, Suzan DelBene, John Garamendi, Steve Cohen, Melanie Stansbury, Debbie Dingell, Sara Jacobs, Shomari Figures, Steven Horsford, Jesús “Chuy” García, Marc Veasey, Summer Lee, Joyce Beatty, Adam Smith, Terri Sewell, Frederica Wilson, Jonathan Jackson, Herb Conaway, Bobby Scott, Jahana Hayes, Angie Craig, Morgan McGarvey, Adelita Grijalva, Andre’ Carson, Lucy McBath, George Latimer, Julie Johnson, Darren Soto, Lauren Underwood, Alma Adams, and Nellie Pou.

The Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act is endorsed by The Sentencing Project; Campaign Legal Center; Chicago Votes; Civil Survival; Community Spring; Dream.Org; Empowering Descendant Communities to Unlock Democracy; Equity and Transformation; EXPO of Wisconsin; FirstFollowers; Gift of Voice; Healing Our Land Inc; Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice; Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments; Just Future Project; Live Free Illinois; More Than Our Crimes; National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys; National Coalition for Prisoner Voting Rights; NCJW Chicago North Shore; Raise The Floor Alliance; SACRED Acts (South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy Acts); Unlock Civics Coalition; Unlock Civics NM; Urban Community Unity Solutions LLC; Vermont Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants.

As a founding member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, Congresswoman Pressley has been a longtime champion of maternal health and reproductive justice.

• Throughout her time in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has convened roundtable meetings with maternal health advocates and practitioners in the Massachusetts 7^th Congressional District.
• In July 2026, Rep. Pressley, alongside Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker and Representatives Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Alma Adams (D-N.C.), and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) led colleagues in reintroducing the Mamas First Act, legislation that would address the maternal mortality crisis by expanding Medicaid coverage to include prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care provided by doulas, midwives, tribal midwives, and lactation support providers.
• In May 2026, Rep. Pressley, alongside Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), reintroduced the Reproductive Health Care Accessibility Act, legislation to help people with disabilities—who face discrimination and extra barriers when seeking care—get better access to reproductive health care and the informed care they need to control their own reproductive lives.
• In May 2025, Rep. Pressley, alongside Congressman Zach Nunn (IA-03), and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14), reintroduced legislation to address rising maternal mortality rates by increasing access to comprehensive care for pregnant women on Medicaid. The Harnessing Effective and Appropriate Long-Term Health for Moms on Medicaid (HEALTH for MOM) Act would support state-led efforts to coordinate maternity care through maternal health homes.
• In May 2024, Rep. Pressley (MA-07) and Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA), in partnership with disability justice and reproductive justice advocates, unveiled a bicameral resolution calling for equitable access to reproductive and sexual healthcare for people with disabilities, and designating a day in May as “Disability Reproductive Equity Day.”
• In May 2024, Rep. Pressley announced the re-introduction of the Mamas First Act, legislation that directly and meaningfully addresses the maternal mortality crisis by expanding Medicaid to include doula and midwifery care.
• In May 2024, Rep. Pressley marked Mother’s Day with a powerful speech on the House floor in which she called for meaningful policy change to better support mothers and caregivers, including maternal health justice, affordable childcare, universal paid leave, reproductive freedom, home and community-based services, and more.
• In May 2023, Congresswoman Pressley and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (WI-04) introduced a resolution recognizing the role doulas play in providing culturally competent maternal health care, addressing racial inequities, and supporting healthier outcomes for mothers and their babies.
• In December 2022, the House passed Congresswoman Pressley’s amendment to strengthen maternal health care for people who are incarcerated.
• In September 2022, Rep. Pressley hosted HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra for a convening on their work to address the Black maternal health crisis and the criminalization of abortion care following the Dobbs decision.
• In November 2021, at a briefing held by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), Congresswoman Pressley delivered testimony on the growing racial disparities in maternal health and the urgent need to combat the Black maternal mortality crisis. Her full testimony at the briefing is available here.
• In May 2021, she introduced the Healthy MOMMIES Act, to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for pregnant people and expand coverage to include culturally competent and community based doula care.
• In March 2020, she first introduced the Justice for Incarcerated Moms Act, legislation to improve maternal health care and support for pregnant individuals who are incarcerated, as part of the Momnibus legislative package. 
• In 2019, she introduced The People’s Justice Guarantee ─ a comprehensive framework to transform the American criminal legal system into one that guarantees justice for all.  She also introduced the Healthy MOMMIES Act with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) to expand Medicaid coverage for new moms from 60-days postpartum to one year.

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