Wall Street Journal
Bill Would Force Hospitals to Warn If They Aren’t Equipped to Save Premature Babies
A Wall Street Journal investigation found parents were told nothing could be done for their infants even when other nearby hospitals could offer care
By Liz Essley Whyte
Key Points
- Sen. Tom Cotton is introducing a bill requiring hospitals to disclose policies on care for extremely premature infants.
- The bill was prompted in part by a WSJ investigation that found some hospitals deny care offered elsewhere for similar cases.
- Hospitals failing to disclose premature birth policies would be ineligible for Medicaid funding under the legislation.
Hospitals would be required to disclose how they make key decisions regarding extremely premature infants in a bill set to be introduced Thursday by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.).
The legislation is in part prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation last year that found mothers had been told no lifesaving measures were possible for their extremely premature infants, even though other hospitals nearby offered care for infants born at similar gestational ages.
The Neonatal Care Transparency Act of 2025 would require hospitals to disclose publicly whether there is a minimal gestational age at which they offer active care for infants, rather than comfort measures before their death. While many hospitals require lifesaving measures to be given at 25 weeks’ gestational age or above,
decisions on whether to attempt to save younger premature infants can vary by hospital or even doctor.
“Expecting parents of potentially premature babies should be able to plan their delivery at a hospital that can suit their child’s specific care needs,” said Cotton, whose staff credited the Journal story for helping spur the measure. “This bill will ease at least one burden these parents face.”
Some hospitals, such as Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis, the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, or USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Ala., have successfully treated most infants they have cared for in recent years born at 22 weeks’ gestational age—little more than halfway through a normal pregnancy.
The bill would require hospitals to disclose how they would transport mothers or their infants to other hospitals with a higher level of neonatal care if necessary. Many hospitals, even those with neonatal intensive-care units, are unable to offer the staff and equipment necessary to resuscitate the tiniest infants.
Hospitals that don’t disclose the information wouldn’t be eligible for Medicaid funding under the legislation. Obstetricians would be required to tell patients the premature birth policies of the hospitals where they have admitting privileges.
Cotton, the third-ranking Senate Republican, plans to attach the bill to must-pass legislation this year, his staff said without specifying what measure that would be. Co-sponsors include three other Republican senators: Wyoming’s Cynthia Lummis, Mississippi’s Cindy Hyde-Smith and Florida’s Rick Scott.
The bill is among a package of family-related laws proposed by Cotton this week, including one banning toxic metals in infant formula and another aimed at helping parents who have had a stillbirth.
Some mothers unexpectedly give birth early, while others know ahead of time that they are at higher risk for such a birth. Mothers who run a Facebook group known as TwentyTwo Matters offer some of the most comprehensive information publicly available to parents about which U.S. and Canadian hospitals have treated extremely premature infants.