119 HR 6765 IH: Safe Passages Act of 2025
U.S. House of Representatives
2025-12-16
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I
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6765
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 16, 2025
Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself and Ms. Salazar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To prioritize and fund life-affirming maternal and child health initiatives globally by equipping local health providers and community health workers to reduce the leading causes of maternal and child mortality, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Safe Passages Act of 2025”.
2.

Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
Around the world, over 287,000 women die each year from pregnancy-related complications—most of which are preventable.
(2)
In sub-Saharan Africa, the maternal mortality rate in 2023 was 442 per 100,000 live births, compared to 14 per 100,000 in developed countries.
(3)
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for approximately 70 percent of all global maternal deaths.
(4)
These deaths are nearly all caused by treatable conditions including postpartum hemorrhage, severe preeclampsia, infection, and obstructed labor, reflecting a lack of access to skilled birth attendants with the training, tools, and infrastructure needed to provide life-affirming obstetrical care.
(5)
Short of death and in the absence of skilled pregnancy care and birth attendance, women may also suffer severe complications during and after childbirth including stillbirths, obstetric fistula, severe anemia, infection, and cardiovascular damage, all of which can cause lifelong complications.
(6)
Maternal death, which is also associated with a decline in the standard of living for children in the bereaved family, is one of the leading causes of fetal and newborn death.
(7)
Infants whose mothers die during childbirth face dramatically elevated risk with a least 20-fold times risk of mortality in the first month of life.
(8)
Even beyond the neonatal period, maternal death is associated with 4–6 times greater mortality risk for young children.
(9)
These statistics reflect not merely public health trends but the personal tragedies of women, children, and families whose futures are forever altered.
(10)
The first 1,000 days of life—from conception to age 2—represent a critical window in which appropriate maternal and infant health care can dramatically reduce risk of child malnutrition, stunting, developmental delays, and early childhood illness and help prevent and treat complications of pregnancy that can have short- and long-term impacts on the health of mothers.
(11)
Strengthening maternal and child health preserves both mother and child, strengthens family units, enhances a myriad of human development goals, and upholds the dignity and worth of every human life.
(12)
The engagement and support of fathers through financial, material, relational and emotional support of the mother and child, is key to strengthening maternal and child health and promoting a safe passage, and has been correlated with increased prenatal care, enhanced skilled birth attendance, improved maternal mental health and higher neonatal survival.
(13)
Programs such as Maternal Life International’s “Safe Passages” model have proven successful in training frontline providers, reducing mortality, and delivering sustainable, culturally respectful, life-affirming care in low-resource settings.
3.

Purpose
The purpose of this Act is to advance and fund life-affirming maternal and child health interventions that—
(1)
equip local providers, including midwives, physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and community health workers, with life-affirming training in how to prevent, recognize, and manage the leading causes of maternal and perinatal death and their complications;
(2)
provide medical resources, training, and emergency obstetric equipment to carry out the above skilled life-affirming management of obstetrical and perinatal complications;
(3)
provide education and support for health care and nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life;
(4)
provide education and support for fathers in their support and responsibility for the well-being of the mother and child;
(5)
support a continuum of life-affirming care for women and men inclusive of pre-conception health, fertility health, fertility awareness, healthy child spacing, natural family planning, safe birth and postpartum mental health; and
(6)
operate in full alignment with respect for life at all stages from conception to natural death and strengthening the family.
4.

Safe passages maternal and child health program
(a)

Establishment
There is established a global initiative to be known as the “Safe Passages Maternal and Child Health Program” to help reduce maternal and child mortality in low- and lower-middle-income countries with high maternal and child mortality rates through fiscal year 2030, through faith-based health partnerships, community-based care, collaboration with national health systems, and life-affirming health interventions.
(b)

Elements
Interventions supported by the program established by subsection (a) are for life-affirming training and resource assistance for the following:
(1)
Prevention, recognition, diagnosis and treatment of obstetrical hemorrhage, and its complications, including postpartum anemia.
(2)
Prevention, recognition, diagnosis and management of preeclampsia and other hypertensive, metabolic and cardiovascular disorders of pregnancy, and their complications, up to 1-year postpartum.
(3)
Prevention, recognition, diagnosis and treatment of infections and their complications associated with ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth, normal pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.
(4)
Prevention, recognition, diagnosis and management of obstructed labor and its complications, including uterine rupture, obstetric fistulas, and additional related complications.
(5)
Reduction of fetal, perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality, including stillbirth, by preventing, recognizing, diagnosing and treating fetal distress, newborn asphyxia, birth trauma, intrauterine growth restriction, premature birth, small size for gestational age, and neonatal infections and sepsis.
(6)
Nutritional and health education for the mother and provision of nutritional resources for the mother and child during the first 1,000 days of life, from conception to 2 years of age provided through coordination with the office leading on global food security.
(7)
Training and dissemination of natural fertility awareness based methods in accordance with evidence-based non-abortive practices.
(8)
Promote increasing fathers’ support and involvement for mothers and children.
(c)

Implementation
The Secretary of State shall prioritize the implementation of the program established by subsection (a) in collaboration with new and existing global health partnerships deemed to be efficient and reliable in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, prioritizing local faith-based providers and faith-based organizations with strong local partnerships and which have experience and expertise in maternal and child health delivery in resource-limited settings.
5.

Amendment to existing law and availability of funds
(a)

Amendment
Section 104(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(c)) is amended to read as follows:
“(c)

Maternal and child health and nutrition
Assistance under this section shall prioritize maternal and child health interventions consistent with the Safe Passages Maternal and Child Health Program established by section 4 of the Safe Passages Act of 2025, including prevention and treatment of obstetric complications, such as hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis, obstructed labor, and neonatal resuscitation; support for maternal nutrition; health care for the child throughout the first 1,000 days of life from conception to approximately 2 years of age; and support for fathers to care for mothers and their children. Such assistance shall promote natural methods of fertility awareness and shall not be used for abortion or abortion-related services.”.
(b)

Availability
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President, acting through the Secretary of State, shall, from funds made available under the Global Health Programs account, make available not less than $400,000,000 annually to carry out section 4 of this Act and subsection (c) of section 104 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended by subsection (a), including for life-affirming maternal and child health programs that—
(1)
focus on the prevention of maternal, fetal, and neonatal deaths;
(2)
promote natural methods of fertility awareness and couple-centered care;
(3)
provide training and emergency response to the 5 leading causes of maternal mortality: hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis and infections, obstructed labor and uterine rupture, and miscarriage, to include surgical management of obstetrical emergencies and pregnancy complications (not to include elective abortions);
(4)
provide training and response for the leading causes of maternal late postpartum complications: severe anemia, neurological and cardiovascular injury following hypertensive disorders, fistula, hemorrhage, infections, and postpartum mental health conditions;
(5)
provide training and emergency response to the leading causes of infant mortality: premature birth, birth complications (birth asphyxia/trauma), intrauterine growth restriction, and neonatal sepsis and infections;
(6)
uphold life-affirming care for both mother and child; and
(7)
engage fathers in these life-affirming maternal and child health programs as well as in the care of the mothers and their children.
6.

Reporting and oversight
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report detailing—
(1)
the number of trainings offered, providers and cadres trained, including midwives, physicians, community health workers, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, and other birth attendants, and the content of the training curricula;
(2)
the effectiveness of such trainings, measured rigorously and objectively, to determine improvements in knowledge and skills through pre- and post-training assessments;
(3)
initial and annual co-investments made by private industry and foreign governments;
(4)
sustainability plans and timelines for organizations and governments receiving assistance;
(5)
the number of facilities receiving support for facility upgrades (such as basic lab tests, blood transfusion services, second-line uterotonics for postpartum hemorrhage, broad spectrum antibiotics, referral and transport systems for rural health-care facilities, and ultrasound services for recognition and management of high-risk pregnancies), and the nature of the upgrades;
(6)
any support provided for establishment of revolving capital funds;
(7)
community- and hospital-level data on maternal, fetal, neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality, presented as a comparison between areas served and not served;
(8)
regions and facilities served;
(9)
estimated maternal and child lives saved; and
(10)
compliance with United States foreign assistance restrictions and goals of this Act.