New legislation was announced to improve access to high-quality maternity care for the state of California.

The proposed legislation, also known as Senate Bill 1237, would expand access to care by authorizing nurse-midwives to conduct routine services without direct physician supervision. This would follow the lead of 46 other states.

According to the proposal, California's current model has not been shown to increase the safety or quality of maternity care. Nurse-midwives perform 50,000 births a year in California and SB 1237 would result in more women gaining access.