BY JADA SIMON
On November 6, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Doula Directory” into law in response to the rise in infant and maternal mortality rates in 2022.
With this bill Governor Hochul is requiring the Department of Health to create a directory of birth assistants that the state hopes will reduce negative outcomes in birth and postpartum. She has given $4.5 million to New York State regional perinatal centers and made it so that New Yorkers can use Medicaid to cover doula services starting January 1, 2024.
So what is a doula? A doula is a person that does not require training in obstetrics, but provides guidance and support to the pregnant women they care for during labor and sometimes even postpartum.
“That is our role as doulas, is to give them that guidance, that information, that confidence to keep them motivated, so they do have a better overall experience, but also have better overall outcomes,” said Shannon Johns, the founder of Common Nature Doula Services Center. “So this way they can go home with their babies, this way they actually go home.”
A week ago, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported that the provisional infant mortality rate for the United States in 2022 was 5.60 infant deaths per 1,000 live births up from 5.44 per 1,000 in 2021. The total number of infant deaths for 2022 was 20,538. This was a 3% increase over 2021 which had 19,928 infant deaths.
“I will say as the first woman governor of this state, America’s infant and maternal mortality rates are horrific,” said Hochul in reaction to the increase in infant and maternal mortality rates. “They’re a disgrace.”
According to a CDC featured article, “Every pregnancy-related death is tragic, especially because more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable.”
Facing the greatest impact of this crisis are Black women.
“Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women,” said the article. “Multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality healthcare, underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias.”
This is where doulas come in. Governor Hochul said that a big reason why doula services are being used as a solution is because it helps “reduce the impact of the racial bias on pregnant people of color” and “doula care is related to reduced C-sections, premature deliveries, reduced likelihood of postpartum depression.”
According to the Journal of Perinatal Education, mothers assisted by doulas were 50% less likely to require a C-section and experienced a 25% reduction in length of labor.
But how would New Yorkers get access to these doulas? This is why there will be a doula directory for expectant parents and people suffering from postpartum depression to get in direct contact with.
“Not only are there a lot of New Yorkers not familiar with the services they provide, they have no idea how to find one,” said Governor Hochul. “So we’re going to make doula care as accessible to as many New Yorkers as possible in communities where they’re needed most.”
Not only that but for those that cannot afford these services, Hochul arranged for Medicaid to cover doula services at the start of the New Year. Governor Hochul also extended postpartum coverage to meet the reality of how long mothers really need to recover after childbirth.
“So we’ve extended the postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months. Who would think that you would be fine after 60 days?” said Hochul. “I’ve been there. You’re not feeling great after 60 days.”
Doulas and midwives will be reimbursed for any services they pay for out of pocket.
Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Sollages said that as a Black woman and a mother of three, she understands why the doula related coverage should be extended.
“For me, I’ve had three kids and I myself have interacted with the medical system and I see why it’s so important that we need to expand doula coverage here in New York State,” said Assemblywoman Sollages.
Shannon Johns closed the discussion with a benefit that can be reaped from this new bill. “One of the other things with doulas is it now, too, also creates a new career pathway for individuals who do want to be in that, in a sense healthcare field, but don’t want to follow the medical pathway,” said Johns.
More doulas almost certainly means that more mothers, especially mothers of color, will get access to prenatal and postpartum support and guidance.