Massachusetts Health Department Memo Uses “Birthing Person” Language in Perinatal Care Guidance

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a memorandum to hospitals, clinics, ambulance services and community midwifery practices that repeatedly uses the term “birthing person” when referring to patients giving birth.

The September 11, 2026 memo focuses on reducing delays when pregnant or postpartum patients and newborns need to be transferred to another medical facility for a higher level of care.

Among its instructions, the department says healthcare workers should seek to reunite the “birthing person” and baby as quickly as clinically safe and discusses circumstances in which the newborn and the birthing patient may be transported together.

The document also states that licensed midwives may accompany and provide care to a patient during ambulance transport when designated by the transferring facility.

Massachusetts has been expanding its community-birth and midwifery system, including statewide procedures for transferring patients between community settings, hospitals and emergency medical services.

The use of terminology such as “birthing person” has become part of a broader public debate over inclusive medical language, particularly over whether such terminology should supplement or replace words such as “mother” and “woman.”