FUNKE FROMMEYER MAKES THE CASE FOR FREESTANDING BIRTHING CENTERS
FRANKFORT, KY. (January 10, 2024) – Today, Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, submitted a new and improved version of Senate Bill 67 (SB 67) from the RS23 when she filed SB103 to establish freestanding birthing centers.
A freestanding birthing center is a health facility, not a hospital or a private residence, and is established to provide care for labor, delivery, and the newborn. Kentucky is one of only eight states that does not offer freestanding birthing centers.
“I ask you to join me in a wellness revolution that will begin at birth for our young people. We have pregnant women in Kentucky who want a holistic approach to a physiologically natural birthing experience,” said Funke Frommeyer. “Just shared today in our health services committee meeting, Kentucky is in a crisis of biblical proportions. With a shortage of medical practitioners, and health care deserts with 40 percent of our Kentucky population living in rural areas, there may be no greater call to action than to train us to care for ourselves.”
The 2024 version also includes a change to the name of this legislation to the Mary Carol Akers Birth Centers Act, in honor of the APRN certified nurse midwife who tried to open a birthing center in Hardin County.
Centers must be accredited by the Commission for the Accreditation of Birth Centers and keep standards consistent with the American Association of Birth Centers' standards. They must have detailed plans to transport mothers and babies to a hospital when maternal and neonatal intensive care are needed. Centers will have to carry their own medical malpractice insurance and will be exempt from having a certificate of need if they have four beds or fewer.
“Freestanding birth center opponents have relied on the lengthy and arduous certificate of need process that has allowed hospitals to essentially block their development, regardless of the benefits to women in Kentucky looking for another birthing alternative,” Funke Frommeyer said.
Freestanding birth centers already have administrative regulations for licensing and qualifying them for Medicaid reimbursement.
No abortions would be allowed in any freestanding birthing centers.
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Senator Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, represents the 24th Senate District, including Bracken, Campbell, and Pendleton Counties and part of Kenton County. She is a member of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue; Economic Development, Tourism and Labor; Education; and Health Services committees. Frommeyer is also a Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee member. Additionally, she is a Budget Review Subcommittee on Justice and Judiciary.