A new bill will head to Congress to prevent women from being turned away or sent home from a hospital while in active labor, after a video circulated of a Black woman writhing in pain at an Indiana hospital. She was told to go home and gave birth in her truck minutes later.
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., will announce the WELLS Act, or the Women Expansion for Learning and Labor Safety Act, on Tuesday, after Mercedes Wells gave birth to her fourth child in her car earlier this month, her office confirmed exclusively with NBC News.
Kelly’s bill would require any hospital that provides obstetric, emergency, or labor and delivery services to have a “Safe Discharge Labor Plan before discharging a patient who presents with signs or symptoms of labor.”
“Mercedes’s courage to speak out and push for change knows no bounds,” Kelly said in a statement to NBC News. “Her bravery and advocacy will help other moms receive the care and treatment they deserve.”
Wells, a mother of four, previously told NBC News that she was rushed to Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital on Nov. 16 when her contractions were 10 minutes apart — only to be sent home six hours later after a checkup by a nurse. She said she never saw a doctor. She gave birth on the side of the road eight minutes after she and her husband got into their truck.
The nurse and doctor involved in the incident are no longer employed at the hospital, according to Franciscan Health President and CEO Raymond Grady.
“It was really a horrific situation to be treated like a dog, or not even like a dog, like less than,” Wells said last week.
“It says that they don’t care at all for Black women in health, and it’s hurtful,” she added. “We thought that, you know, things have changed at this point in our country, and I don’t see a change.”
Kelly noted that the safe discharge labor plan would require clinical justification for discharge, assessment of travel distance and time, and documentation of patient understanding. It would apply to federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, tribal health programs, emergency medical services agencies, community-based birthing centers and other facilities.
“My bill aims to address systematic issues around maternal care, racial disparities, and hospital accountability,” Kelly said. “It’s clear that what happened to Mercedes isn’t an isolated incident, nor is it the first time a Black woman’s pain has been ignored.”
The WELLS Act, which would also mandate racial bias training for health care professionals, will be formally introduced when the House returns from Thanksgiving break.
Grady issued a formal apology to Wells and her family last week.
The hospital also said it would implement new policies requiring all pregnant patients in the labor and delivery unit to be examined by a physician before they leave the hospital, Grady added. Cultural competency training has also been mandated for all labor and delivery staff.
Wells’ experience highlights what health experts say are the long-standing disparities in health care for Black women.
The maternal mortality rate for Black women in the United States is significantly higher than for other racial groups. Black women are three times more likely to die from childbirth than white women, with 50 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 14.5 deaths for white women, 12 deaths for Latinas and 10 for Asian women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black women also report facing disproportionate levels of unfair treatment in health care settings, according to KFF Health News.
Kelly has led several pieces of maternal health legislation through Congress, including the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act, which passed in 2022; she also reintroduced the Mothers and Offspring Mortality and Morbidity Awareness Act in 2021. In May, Kelly announced that she is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
“Until all women are heard and listened to in our hospitals and health center, I’ll be their voice in Congress fighting for change,” Kelly said.
