South Carolina H 3875: Midwives and Birthing Centers

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3875 Text of Previous Version (Jan. 30, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3875

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH 
CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE "PERINATAL INTEGRATION ACT OF 2025"; AND 
BY ADDING SECTION 44-89-110 SO AS TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH TO 
PROMULGATE REGULATIONS THAT INTEGRATE MIDWIVES AND BIRTHING CENTERS INTO THE 
ORGANIZATION OF PERINATAL LEVELS OF CARE.

Whereas, collaboration 
among health professionals can improve safety and quality, particularly when 
care is transferred from low-resource to high-resource settings; and

Whereas, poor 
coordination of care across providers and birth settings has been associated 
with adverse maternal newborn outcomes; and

Whereas, South Carolina 
has a Midwifery Integration Score of thirty-four out of one hundred according 
to a 2018 study "Mapping integration of midwives across the United States: 
Impact on access, equity, and outcomes" by Vedam S, Stoll K, MacDorman M, Declercq 
E, Cramer R, Cheyney M, et al. In this study, lower scores were correlated with 
lower rates of physiologic birth, more obstetric interventions, and more 
adverse neonatal outcomes; and

Whereas, midwives and 
birthing centers in a community setting should be afforded access to the 
initiation of smooth transitions for mothers who encounter complications during 
childbirth; and

Whereas, the ability of 
midwives and birthing centers to function autonomously to their full scope of 
practice in community settings, in collaboration with other members of the 
health system, can enhance the cost effectiveness and accessibility of maternity 
care, particularly in rural or impoverished communities. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Perinatal Integration Act of 2025."

SECTION 2. Chapter 89, Title 44 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

 Section 
44-89-110. (A) For purposes of this 
section:

 (1) 
"Integrate" means to facilitate the full exercise of a scope of practice, 
autonomy, self-regulation, collaboration, and a smooth transition between 
midwives, birthing centers, and hospitals that provide perinatal services. 
"Integrate" does not mean to supervise midwives or birthing centers.

 (2) 
"Perinatal levels of care" means the regulatory implementation of perinatal 
services.

 (B) 
The department shall promulgate regulations that recognize midwives within the 
definition of facilities and integrate midwives and birthing centers into the 
organization of perinatal levels of care. These regulations must include, but 
are not limited to:

 (1) 
access to physician-to-provider consultation available twenty-four hours a day;

 (2) 
transfer methods and protocols from a midwife or birthing center to a hospital 
within a fifty-mile radius that provides level one or higher perinatal 
services;

 (3) 
access to professional continuing education relating to safe transfers and the 
escalation of care; and

 (4) 
the collection of data on transfer outcomes to evaluate the effectiveness and 
safety of the transfer of care from a midwife or birthing center to a hospital.

 (C) 
Nothing in this section may be construed to:

 (1) 
allow or require the department or hospitals to promulgate regulations or 
requirements that restrict the scope of practice, change existing licensure 
requirements, or impose any other regulation or requirement on midwives or 
birthing centers, other than methods and protocols for the transfer of a 
patient to a hospital; or

 (2) 
require hospitals to give midwives hospital-admitting privileges.

SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on January 30, 2025 at 12:12 PM