Protecting Perinatal Individuals and Babies: Advocates Push for the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act in New York (A.860/S.845)
Black Birthing People Face A Mortality Rate More Than Four Times Higher Than White Counterparts in NYS
Seeking informed consent improves maternal and infant health by establishing trust and transparency between pregnant people and their health care providers, which is essential for high-quality, patient-centered care
Albany, NY — On Tuesday, May 13, a diverse coalition of state lawmakers, healthcare professionals, advocates, and impacted families rallied at the New York State Capitol to advocate for the passage of the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act (A.860 Rosenthal / S.845 Salazar). This reproductive and racial justice measure codifies clinical best practices and principles outlined in New York State Department of Health clinical guidelines to standardize the practice of ensuring that health care providers obtain informed consent before drug testing and screening perinatal patients and their newborns.
No New Yorker should have to fear seeking health care while they are pregnant. Yet pregnant and postpartum people’s bodily autonomy, dignity, and parental rights are all too often undermined when they and their infants are drug-tested without their consent and for no medical purpose in the course of obstetric care. Non-consensual drug testing undermines maternal and infant health by violating pregnant people’s trust in their health care providers and deterring them from seeking essential prenatal care. As the Legislature seeks to improve maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women, it must pass the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act to promote trust and transparency between birthing people and their health care providers and eliminate secret drug testing as a barrier to care.
“Informed consent fosters trust between patients and providers, leading to better health outcomes for mothers and babies,” explained Dr. Matt Holm, MD, Pediatrician, Addiction Medicine, Montefiore Health System. “The medical exam room should be a sacred place where people can seek care openly and honestly.”
Hospitals across the state regularly conduct non-consensual and medically unnecessary drug tests on perinatal patients and their newborns and routinely report positive results to the family regulation system, also known as child protective services (CPS). This infringes on perinatal people’s civil rights and exposes them and their families to unwarranted and traumatic investigations while they are still recovering from birth. Low-income Black and Brown people and their newborns are disproportionately targeted for these drug tests, despite the well-documented fact that Black people do not use illicit substances more than any other race. The New York Attorney General’s office is currently investigating these practices at private hospitals across the state.
“When my baby was born, I was overjoyed—but that joy quickly turned to fear when I learned we had been drug tested without my knowledge or consent,” said Ericka Brewington. “New York law does not require a report based on a positive drug test alone. Yet, the hospital reported me to child protective services, and I was separated from my child during crucial bonding time – all based on a test that measures what’s in my body, not how I will parent.”
New York State faces a maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately impacts Black people. From 2018 to 2020, New York had a maternal mortality rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. Black women are dying at a rate over four times higher than white women. Reducing barriers to prenatal care—especially those that disproportionately affect Black pregnant people—is essential to the state’s efforts to address this maternal mortality crisis.
Rather than facilitating access to substance use treatment for those who need it, non-consensual testing has the opposite effect: it drives people away from the health care system. It alienates them from the supports they need to have healthy pregnancies, births, and families.
The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act would create a standard practice in New York that respects pregnant people’s right to determine what happens to their own bodies, promotes a collaborative dynamic of communication and trust between patients and providers, and helps alleviate fears about secret testing and reporting to CPS that deter pregnant people from accessing care. The legislation would require providers to get consent from a pregnant or postpartum person before drug testing or screening them or their newborn unless it is a medical emergency.
“Testing women without their consent is an invasive action that reinforces discriminatory and punitive practices, breaks down trust between the patient and the healthcare system, and discourages mothers from accessing prenatal and postpartum care. So when we’re calling on the legislature to pass the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act, we’re ultimately calling on folks to stand up for racial justice, reproductive rights, and bodily autonomy,” said Senator Salazar.
“To improve maternal health and promote trust between patients and their providers, we must pass the Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act into law,” said bill sponsor Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF – Manhattan), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing. “For too long, parents and their newborns have been secretly drug tested, without a legitimate medical purpose, and any positive results would be shared with the child welfare system. A drug test or screen is not a reliable indicator of a person’s ability to be a good parent, but these tools have long been weaponized against families, particularly families of color. Intrusive investigations and threats of family separation do not improve health outcomes, they only discourage people from seeking care. For the health of all parents and newborns, we must pass my bill to implement this common-sense approach and build trusting relationships between patients and healthcare providers.”
“As Chair of the Health Committee, I was proud to help advance the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act because every pregnant New Yorker deserves to be treated with respect, not suspicion,” said Assemblywoman Amy Paulin. “No one should be subjected to invasive testing without their clear and informed consent — especially not during one of the most vulnerable times in their life. This legislation is a critical step toward protecting reproductive dignity, and I’m committed to ensuring that the rights and privacy of pregnant people are honored in every medical setting.”
“No one should arrive at a hospital in labor and face fear or judgment instead of care. As Chair of the Senate Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Use Disorders, I understand how critical it is to create pathways to treatment that do not undermine trust in healthcare. This legislation draws that line—ensuring consistent standards, protecting patient dignity, and allowing providers to focus on what matters most: delivering safe, respectful, and medically sound care,” said Senator Nathalia Fernandez, Chair of the Senate Committee on Alcoholism and Substance Use Disorders.
“The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act is more important now more than ever as individuals, families, and communities are being stripped of their right to bodily autonomy and reproductive justice. It is the first step that we can take to begin to undo the harm caused by health care systems and providers to ensure that pregnant and postpartum people receive the compassionate, person-centered care they deserve,” said Dr. Erinma Ukoha, MPH, OB/GYN, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Mount Sinai.
“As a physician, it is my moral and ethical duty to provide compassionate care to every patient I care for based on medical and scientific evidence. Research has repeatedly shown that there is no medical basis for forcing, coercing, or mandating drug screenings or testing on patients without consent. The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act is a clear statement that pregnant people do not deserve to be surveilled or criminalized. This is misaligned with medical ethics and keeps people from seeking care when needed. Pregnant people deserve timely health care rooted in respect and trust. Surveillance is not care,” said Dr. Jamila Perritt, President & CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health and OB-GYN.
“The Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies strongly supports this legislation. It is critically important to protect the rights of pregnant people to ensure maternal-fetal health, and eliminate unnecessary exposure of child welfare and legal system involvement for families,” said Michelle Newman, Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA)
“In this era of constant threats to reproductive justice, and freedom, we urge the New York Legislature to affirm pregnant and postpartum people’s right to consent to drug tests for themselves and their newborns,” said Ashley C. Sawyer, Pregnancy Justice Senior Policy Counsel. “Non-consensual drug testing not only triggers civil investigations but also fuels pregnancy criminalization, which disproportionately harms Black, brown, indigenous, and low-income communities. We urge the Legislature to swiftly pass the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act (A.860/S.845) to protect families from being subjected to these harmful systems.”
“Families deserve a standardized, state-wide solution to drug testing that respects the autonomy of themselves and their children and recognizes that if a pregnant person is struggling with substance use, we want to create safe, accessible avenues for them to get evidence-based care. The Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act is a crucial step for rebuilding trust and protecting New York birthing people and families,” said Melissa Moore, Director of Civil Systems Reform for Drug Policy Alliance.
“Pregnancy is no excuse to violate a person’s fundamental right to decide what is done to their body,” said Jenna Lauter, Policy Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Yet non-consensual and medically unnecessary drug testing practices regularly undermine pregnant people’s equality and deters people from seeking needed care. New York must enact the Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act to affirm pregnant people’s right to consent to care and ensure they are consistently treated with respect.”
“The passage of the Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act is a necessary step towards achieving reproductive and racial justice in New York State,” said Jesse McGleughlin, Policy Counsel in The Bronx Defenders’ Family Defense Practice. “As public defenders in the Bronx, we see the devastating impact of drug testing parents and infants—predominantly those who are Black, and Latine—without their consent. Parents who seek care are surveilled. Families are ripped apart and newborns enter the foster system, causing long-lasting and often irreparable damage to their health and wellbeing. Passing the Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act is a step toward confronting the legacy of medical racism and reaffirms what should be a basic right: to give birth and seek care without fear. Ensuring families remain safely together should be the standard, not the exception.”
“As a Black woman who was pregnant and went to the hospital for a sciatic condition, I was subjected to non-consensual drug testing that was driven by bias and the assumption that I was seeking drugs. There was not a medical reason to test me. Doctors have operated on bias for too long. This bill will bring accountability to this damaging practice and ensure patients know what is happening to their bodies,” said Imani Worthy, Black Families Love and Unite.
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