Health Equity Considerations in State Bills Related to Doula Care (2015-2020).

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Racial inequities in birth outcomes persist in the United States. Doula care may help to decrease inequities and improve some perinatal health indicators, but access remains a challenge. Recent doula-related state legislative action seeks to improve access, but the prioritization of equity is unknown. We reviewed recent trends in doula-related legislation and evaluated the extent to which new legislation addresses racial health equity.

Methods

We conducted a landscape analysis of the LegiScan database to systematically evaluate state legislation mentioning the word "doula" between 2015 and 2020. We identified and applied nine criteria to assess the equity focus of the identified doula-related legislative proposals. Our final sample consisted of 73 bills across 2

SUBMITTER: Ogunwole SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10224765 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature