Congress funds midwifery education to address maternity care shortages
H.R. 6394 — Midwives for MOMS Act of 2025 · Filed by Ashley Hinson (R-IA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill authorizes $15 million in federal grants over five years (2026–2030) to expand midwifery education by funding accredited midwifery schools, nurse-midwifery programs, and clinical training sites. It prioritizes funding for institutions that recruit students from rural and economically disadvantaged areas and that train midwives for underserved regions, aiming to address maternity care shortages.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: federal grants to educational institutions to expand midwifery training capacity. The stated purpose (addressing maternity care shortages) aligns with the actual mechanism (funding education), with no hidden riders or misdirection.
What the text implies
- The bill excludes midwifery programs housed within schools of nursing (section 760A(c)), potentially fragmenting midwifery education and creating administrative barriers for integrated nurse-midwifery and direct-entry midwifery pathways.
- Priority funding for rural and economically disadvantaged recruitment may create geographic and socioeconomic clustering of midwifery services, potentially reinforcing existing disparities if not paired with loan forgiveness or practice-location incentives.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
accredited midwifery schools and programs; schools of nursing with nurse-midwifery programs; institutions of higher education in rural and economically disadvantaged areas