BOSTON — Maternal health legislation is heading to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.

The conference committee report (H 4999), which emerged from negotiations Wednesday, won House and Senate approval during sparsely attended informal sessions Thursday.

“It’s with immense gratitude that we get to actually revel in this moment of progress, celebrating this monumental commitment to improving the quality of life, maternal and mental health care for our most at-risk constituents,” said Sen. Liz Miranda, who sponsored maternal health legislation this session. “With the birth justice bill on its way to Gov. Healey’s desk momentarily, we are taking a crucial step forward in tackling the Black maternal health crisis by expanding prenatal, postpartum, mental health, midwifery, doula care, birth centers, while enabling the growth of these freestanding birth centers across our great commonwealth.”

Inside the House’s temporary chamber in Hearing Room A-1, some advocates cheered as the branch accepted the report without discussion. Lead House negotiator Rep. Marjorie Decker quietly exclaimed, “Yay!”

The agreement creates a pathway to licensure for certified professional midwives and lactation consultants, removes barriers to opening birth centers, develops resources for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, expands access to postpartum depression screenings, and improves oversight of ultrasound care. It also requires MassHealth to cover doula services for pregnant people, postpartum individuals up to 12 months after the end of their pregnancy and adoptive parents until their infants turn 1.

Beacon Hill lawmakers ran out of time to strike a deal on the bills, which were largely similar across the House and Senate versions, before the end of formal sessions. The maternal health legislation was the first bill to be released from closed-door negotiations since the Aug. 1 end of formals, and the Legislature still has major business unfinished.

Emily Anesta, president of the Bay State Birth Coalition, said the maternal health bill “will significantly improve access to high-quality, personalized maternity care for countless families across our state.”

“This omnibus package is a powerful, multi-faceted approach to addressing our urgent maternal health crisis and racial inequities,” Anesta said in a statement Thursday. “People in Massachusetts want and deserve access to midwifery care and birth centers — and this is a huge step forward to ensure people can obtain this essential care.”

Advocates and lawmakers have pitched the bills as a response to worsening maternal health outcomes that are disproportionately impacting people of color. The rate of severe maternal morbidity nearly doubled from 2011 to 2020, with Black individuals experiencing the highest rate of complications from pregnancy or delivery.

“The Massachusetts Legislature clearly understands that the right to reproductive health care, including care for pregnancy, delivery, miscarriage care and abortion care, is not a realized right unless every person is able to safely access that care with dignity,” Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said in a statement. “By empowering midwives and removing burdensome barriers to the opening of freestanding birth centers, this legislation can deliver real advancements in birthing justice and work to address a worsening maternal health crisis in the Bay State.”