Washington, D.C.-(ENEWSPF)- In case you missed it, Congresswoman Robin Kelly joined MSNBC’s The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart to discuss Black maternal health disparities. This includes recent reporting about racism and sexism. These factors underlie disproportionately high maternal mortality and morbidity rates for Black women. It is a topic close to the Congresswoman’s heart as she continues to advance legislation on the issue. For a long time, the Congresswoman has pushed for legislation to protect Black women. These women, in particular, suffer discrimination in the healthcare system.
Implicit racial bias can be deadly for Black women in the healthcare system. This is also a topic many white men in the U.S. Senate still do not acknowledge or understand. Maternal health disparities contribute to maternal mortality rates. The Department of Labor concludes, “The U.S. has among the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and much of these deaths – 60%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – are preventable.”
“The more we talk about [maternal mortality], the more we are able to pass legislation, the more the media brings it to the forefront. I think that we will make some strides and we have made strides. We did in the 117th Congress,” said Congresswoman Robin Kelly. “It is extremely important we pass legislation for data to be collected and then one federal agency or aggregate the data. The problem is some states don’t collect data or they collected. They collect it in different ways. So we really don’t get the full picture. But we’re changing that now.”
Watch the interview here:
“It’s hard for them to talk about that but they know they have to because the statistics are screaming with the issue” @RepRobinKelly on her Republican colleagues understanding the importance of addressing the issue of deadly Black maternal health crisis #SaturdayShow pic.twitter.com/9PCG5bKjTv
— The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@weekendcapehart) July 15, 2023
