After Birth in a Truck, New WELLS Act Aims to Stop Hospitals Turning Away Women in Labor

A new federal bill would require hospitals and other care sites to follow strict procedures before discharging anyone who presents with signs of labor — a proposal spurred by a viral incident in which a Black woman gave birth in her truck minutes after being sent home from a hospital.

Representative Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) announced plans to introduce the Women Expansion for Learning and Labor Safety (WELLS) Act after Mercedes Wells delivered her fourth child on the roadside earlier this month. The WELLS Act would obligate any facility that provides obstetric, emergency, or labor-and-delivery services to implement a formal Safe Discharge Labor Plan before discharging a patient showing signs or symptoms of labor.

What the WELLS Act would require

The bill would require facilities to document clinical justification for discharge, assess travel distance and expected travel time to the patient’s home or the next medical facility, and confirm patient understanding of their condition and follow-up instructions. The requirement would extend beyond hospitals to federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, tribal health programs, emergency medical services agencies, community-based birthing centers and similar providers.

"Mercedes’s courage to speak out and push for change knows no bounds," Kelly said. "Her bravery and advocacy will help other moms receive the care and treatment they deserve."

Incident and hospital response

On Nov. 16, Wells reported that she was taken to Franciscan Health Crown Point after contractions about 10 minutes apart. After a nurse check, she says she was discharged six hours later without seeing a physician, and she gave birth in her truck eight minutes after leaving the hospital. In statements following the incident, Franciscan Health said the nurse and doctor involved are no longer employed there and issued a formal apology to Wells and her family. The hospital also announced new policies requiring a physician examination before discharging pregnant patients from labor and delivery and mandated cultural competency training for staff.

"It was really a horrific situation to be treated like a dog, or not even like a dog, like less than," Wells said. "It says that they don’t care at all for Black women in health, and it’s hurtful. We thought that things have changed at this point in our country, and I don’t see a change."

Broader context: racial disparities in maternal care

Kelly has framed the WELLS Act as part of a wider effort to address systemic problems in maternal care, racial disparities, and hospital accountability. The bill would also mandate racial-bias training for health care professionals.

Health data underscore the urgency of addressing disparities: according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women in the U.S. experience a pregnancy-related mortality rate of about 50 deaths per 100,000 live births — roughly three times the rate for white women (about 14.5 per 100,000). Other groups also face elevated risks, though at lower rates: Latinas roughly 12 per 100,000 and Asian women about 10 per 100,000. Surveys and reporting have long documented that Black women frequently report unfair or dismissive treatment in health care settings.

Legislative background and next steps

Kelly has sponsored multiple maternal health measures in Congress, including work on the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act (passed in 2022) and other proposals focused on maternal morbidity and mortality. The WELLS Act — which would be introduced when the House reconvenes after the Thanksgiving recess — seeks to create enforceable standards around discharge decisions and training across a range of care settings.

"Until all women are heard and listened to in our hospitals and health centers, I’ll be their voice in Congress fighting for change," Kelly said.