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Statement

'Congress Is Finally Treating Maternal Mortality as the National Emergency It Is,' Moms Leader Says, Urging President Trump to Quickly Sign Bill Into Law

December 13, 2018
Maternal Health, Health Care

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement of Monifa Bandele, senior vice president of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on congressional passage of legislation designed to prevent maternal deaths.

“Just one day after the House of Representatives passed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act, the U.S. Senate today passed the companion bill, the Maternal Health Accountability Act. We are thrilled to see Congress prioritizing the health and lives of pregnant women and treating maternal mortality as the national emergency that it is.

“Every year in this country, 700 - 900 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, and some 65,000 suffer severe complications. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women, independent of age, parity or education. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 60 percent of maternal deaths in this country are preventable.

“Clearly, we need solutions and this legislation will have a profound impact. It will establish a program to help states review maternal deaths; establish and sustain a maternal mortality review committee; support a plan to educate health care providers to improve maternal care; and improve information collection on maternal deaths and provide for public disclosure of this information. It offers hope for addressing the factors that lead to the deaths of so many Black mothers and the stubborn racial disparities that continue to plague our health care system.

“This legislation had bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. President Trump should waste no time in signing it into law. Moms are dying every day in this country. There is no time to waste.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.