HB 672: Georgia Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act; enact

This bill creates the 'Georgia Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act' by adding a new article to Georgia's public health code. It would require every perinatal facility, meaning any hospital, clinic, or birthing center that provides pregnancy, labor, delivery, or postpartum care, to set up an evidence based implicit bias training program for healthcare professionals involved in perinatal care. The training must cover topics like recognizing unconscious bias, historical and ongoing effects of discrimination on minority communities, cultural identity, power dynamics in health settings, and reproductive justice. Healthcare professionals would need initial training and a refresher every two years, and facilities would have to honor training certificates from other facilities. Separately, the bill directs the Department of Public Health to collect and publish data on severe maternal health complications (such as hemorrhage, preeclampsia, and sepsis) and pregnancy related deaths, broken down by region and by race and ethnicity, at least once every three years.

• Requires every perinatal facility (hospital, clinic, or birthing center providing pregnancy or childbirth care) to implement an implicit bias training program for healthcare professionals.
• Specifies ten required components of the training, including identifying unconscious bias, discussing health inequities, and covering reproductive justice.
• Requires initial training plus a refresher course every two years, with facilities required to honor training certificates issued by other perinatal facilities.
• Requires facilities to offer the training even to healthcare professionals who are not directly employed by the facility but who provide perinatal care there.
• Directs the Department of Public Health to collect and track data on severe maternal health complications and pregnancy related deaths, publishing the data at least every three years broken down by region and by race and ethnicity.

Perinatal facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and birthing centers in Georgia; healthcare professionals who provide perinatal care, including those not directly employed by a facility; pregnant patients and new mothers receiving care at these facilities; and the Department of Public Health, which must collect and publish the maternal health data.

Healthcare workers involved in pregnancy and childbirth care would face a new, recurring training requirement aimed at reducing bias in patient treatment. The state would also begin systematically tracking and publishing data on severe pregnancy complications and deaths broken down by race, region, and ethnicity, which could reveal disparities in maternal health outcomes across Georgia.

• Section 1 adds a new Article 4 to Chapter 2A of Title 31 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A. §§ 31-2A-60 through 31-2A-63), naming the law the 'Georgia Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act.'
• O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-61 defines key terms including 'implicit bias,' 'perinatal facility,' 'healthcare professional,' and 'pregnancy related death.'
• O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-62 requires perinatal facilities to run implicit bias training with ten specific components and sets initial training plus two-year refresher requirements.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-62(d) requires facilities to accept training certificates from other facilities to avoid duplicate training for professionals who work at multiple sites.
• O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-63 requires the Department of Public Health to collect data on severe maternal morbidity (listing seven specific conditions) and pregnancy related deaths.
• The data must be published at least once every three years, after being aggregated by state region and disaggregated by racial and ethnic identity.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (House)

• Park Cannon (D, HD-58)Primary sponsor
• Debra Bazemore (D, HD-69)
• Tanya F. Miller (D, HD-62)
• Karen Bennett (D, HD-94)

• maternal health
• pregnancy care
• implicit bias training
• healthcare regulation
• public health data