STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator BRITNEE N. TIMBERLAKE
District 34 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires midwives and physicians to provide pregnant women information on birthing options prior to delivery.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning pregnancy and supplementing Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Certified nurse midwife" means a midwife licensed by the State Board of Medical Examiners as a certified nurse midwife pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1991, c.97 (C.45:10-17 et al.).
"Physician" means an individual licensed to practice medicine and surgery in this State.
b. A certified nurse midwife or physician who practices obstetrics shall provide a pregnant patient, in writing in either English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Creole, French, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish, during the initial consultation, and prior to the onset of labor as determined by the Department of Health, with evidence-based information on all birthing options that are available to the patient, including, but not limited to, planned hospital birth induced with Pitocin or an epidural, hospital water births, home water births; hospital non-Medicaid births; home non-Medicaid births; scheduled births and scheduled C-sections; emergency C-sections, health risks associated with each birthing option, health risks to the mother and infant associated with an epidural, Pitocin, and other medications, and a list of birthing options that are covered by the patient’s health insurance carrier.
c. A certified nurse midwife or physician shall be required to provide on an annual basis, in a language that a pregnant patient understands, evidence-based education on all birthing options available to the patient in accordance with subsection b. of this act.
2. The Commissioner of Health shall promulgate rules and regulations, in accordance with the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take effect 180 days after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires certified midwives and physicians who practice obstetrics to provide pregnant women information on birthing options prior to delivery.
Under the bill, a certified midwife or physician is to provide a pregnant patient, in writing in either English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Creole, French, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish, during the initial consultation, and prior to the onset of labor as determined by the Department of Health, with evidence-based information on all birthing options that are available to the patient, including, but not limited to, planned hospital birth induced with Pitocin or an epidural, hospital water births, home water births; hospital non-Medicaid births; home non-Medicaid births; scheduled births and scheduled C-sections; and emergency C-sections, health risks associated with each birthing option, health risks to the mother and infant associated with an epidural, Pitocin, and other medications. The certified midwife or physician is also required to provide on an annual basis, in a language that a pregnant patient understands, evidence-based education on all birthing options available to the patient in accordance with the provisions of the bill.
Under the bill’s provisions, the Commissioner of Health is to promulgate rules and regulations as are necessary to effectuate the provisions of this bill.