03/12/2025
SB87 Faces Critical Vote on March 19—Will Alabama Finally Guarantee Newborn Screening Access for All Babies?
MONTGOMERY, AL – Alabama lawmakers have a choice to make on March 19: Stand for newborn safety or allow unnecessary bureaucracy to put babies at risk. SB87, set for a Senate Healthcare Committee vote, would ensure that newborns born at home receive the same life-saving screenings—CCHD, hearing, and blood spot—as those born in hospitals. Yet, despite years of negotiations and repeated compromises from midwives, Alabama’s regulatory boards continue blocking midwives from administering these essential tests.
A Medical Family Forced to Fight for Basic Care
Jessica Thompson, R.N., and her husband, Jeremy Thompson, M.D., co-founders of Safer Birth in Bama, know firsthand how broken the system is. "When our fifth baby was born at home in early 2020, just before the pandemic, we assumed accessing newborn screenings would be simple," said Jessica Thompson. "We were wrong. Despite being a medical family, we had to fight to get the blood spot screening card—something that should have been immediately available through our midwife. It was maddening to navigate this red tape, knowing full well these screenings
are critical and time-sensitive. This was never an issue for our Tennessee midwife and it’s appalling."
Dr. Jeremy Thompson added, "As a physician, I cannot accept that Alabama is making it harder—not easier—for midwives to provide these screenings. This isn’t about regulation. This is about newborn safety. No other state forces families to secure a physician appointment within 48 hours postpartum just to access tests
that midwives are fully trained to administer."
Regulators Keep Moving the Goalposts
For years, midwives have worked in good faith to find a solution.
● In 2023, key definitions were removed from the bill to ease opposition. It was never called for a vote.
● This year, regulatory boards proposed a compromise allowing midwives to administer newborn screenings while requiring results to be sent to a physician. Midwives agreed—prioritizing newborn
safety over everything else.
● Then, without warning, regulators backtracked, falsely claiming they had only ever considered allowing midwives to perform the blood spot test.
"This isn’t a misunderstanding," said Nancy Megginson, Legislative Chairperson for the Alabama Midwives Alliance (ALMA). "The bill has always referred to newborn screenings;—plural. The goalposts keep moving because the opposition isn’t about safety. It’s about restricting midwifery."
Mothers Speak Out: ‘This Shouldn’t Even Be a Question’
Pam Minetree, an Alabama mother of four adult children, knows firsthand how critical newborn screenings can be.
"When I had my fourth baby—my third son—in the hospital, he was born with a severe congenital heart defect called Transposition of the Great Vessels. Without the Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) screening, we never would have known until it was too late. That test saved his life. He was rushed via medflight to emergency interventions shortly after birth that gave him a chance to survive."
Minetree was shocked to learn that midwives in Alabama are being blocked from performing the same screenings that caught her son’s life-threatening condition just moments after delivery.
"I would have loved the option of a home birth as a low risk mother, We had no prior knowledge of my son’s condition as it is rare and often undetected on ultrasound. To think that Alabama regulatory authorities are even considering it appropriate to withhold these tests from low risk births is both ridiculous and dangerous. Why is this even a debate?"
Time-Sensitive Screenings, Life-Saving Outcomes
These screenings exist to prevent life-threatening complications and lifelong disabilities:
● CCHD screening detects critical congenital heart defects with a handheld pulse oximetry. Newborns can seem perfectly healthy but deteriorate rapidly without immediate medical intervention.
● Hearing screening identifies hearing loss early, ensuring timely intervention to prevent developmental delays. Most pediatricians don’t have the equipment, forcing families to scramble for a specialist, yet performed by ancillary staff at the hospitals.
● Blood spot testing, similar to a glucose blood drop, detects metabolic and genetic disorders, where delayed treatment can result in severe disability or death.
Right now, Alabama forces families who choose home birth to secure a physician appointment within 48 hours
postpartum—something many pediatricians simply can’t accommodate, especially on weekends or holidays.
The Time for Action Is Now
The March 19 vote will determine whether Alabama continues to redtape newborn screenings—or finally align with every other state in the nation by allowing midwives to provide all three of these life-saving tests.
Megginson added, "There is no other statute with language saying who can administer these screenings only who can order, and the existing statute already says “order” and uncredentialed, ancillary, hospital staff are administering these tests. Legislators need to ask themselves: Can a state truly be pro-life and anti-midwife? Are we witnessing a modern-day Exodus 1:15-21? Will opposing regulatory bodies become the new Pharaoh, ordering midwives to withhold lifesaving screenings so that newborns perish?"
Be a voice for Alabama’s Newborns!
The Alabama Midwives Alliance is calling on parents, healthcare professionals, and birth advocates to make their voices heard.
Let your legislators know that you want them to stand for newborn safety and pass SB87 without further restrictions. Call your representatives. Show up. Speak out. Every baby deserves access to the care they need—no matter where they are born.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Nancy Megginson, LM, CPM
Legislative Chairperson, Alabama Midwives Alliance
�� 205-717-7874
�� midwifenancy@gmail.com
