Maternal Health, Dignity, and Consent Act

No New Yorker should have to fear seeking health care during pregnancy. Yet, pregnant New Yorkers and their newborns—disproportionately those who are Black or Brown—are often subjected to medically unnecessary drug and alcohol testing by their health care providers without their knowledge or consent. Major medical and public health associations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Perinatal Association strongly oppose this practice. Even New York’s own Department of Health has issued clinical guidelines emphasizing the importance of seeking informed consent before screening pregnant people for substance use. Yet, non-consensual and medically unnecessary drug testing, as well as the routine reporting of positive results to Child Protective Services (CPS), remains a persistent problem across New York State.