HB295 threatens to restrict and criminalize doula care in Tennessee.

For generations, doulas—especially Black, Indigenous, and community-rooted doulas—have carried forward ancestral knowledge, spiritual care, and practices that center the needs of birthing people and families. These practices predate the medical system and have always existed outside of it.

HB295 continues a harmful trend of state regulation that erases and undermines community-based care. Instead of supporting diverse doula practices, the bill could push doulas into narrow, medicalized frameworks by:

• Forcing doulas into alignment with the medical system, treating our work as if it were simply another arm of clinical care.
• Restricting who can practice, by requiring Department of Health–approved certification programs that may exclude long-standing, trusted community training models.
• Risking penalties or criminalization for doulas whose practices fall outside state-approved guidelines.
• Limiting access for families, If the Department of Health implements the current recommendations, which require complicated and lengthy paperwork— this process would exclude many doulas who are most connected to the communities they serve.

Without proper guard rails and its current form, HB295 represents the commercialization and medicalization of birth work. It reduces a diverse, people-centered practice into a regulated service defined by institutional standards—rather than by the needs and voices of families.

Tennessee already faces a maternal health crisis. Families, especially in marginalized and rural communities, need more access to doulas, not less. Research shows doulas improve birth outcomes, reduce disparities, and provide the type of care that cannot be replaced by medical institutions.

We, the undersigned, demand that Tennessee lawmakers:

Reject HB295 and any attempt to restrict or criminalize doula care.
Protect the full spectrum of doula work, from cultural traditions to holistic practices to community-rooted care.
Invest in true maternal health equity by expanding access and removing—not creating—barriers for families and doulas.

Doulas are not an extension of the medical system. Doulas are independent care providers who protect choice, dignity, and well-being.

Sign this petition to stand against HB295 and defend the right of families to access diverse, community-based doula care in Tennessee.

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