Washington, D.C.-(ENEWSPF)- Congressmembers Robin L. Kelly (IL-02), Chair of the CBC Health Braintrust, marked the fifth Black Maternal Health Week with a call for the advancement of legislation targeted at ending the Black maternal mortality crisis:
“This Black Maternal Health Week, I have fervent hope that we advance policies and programs to end the maternal mortality crisis, which is disproportionately and indiscriminately killing Black women.
“We have made progress in the last year – we have offered states a five-year option to extend postpartum coverage to new moms eligible for Medicaid– from 60 days after giving birth to one full year. We have signed into law my Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act to invest in eliminating biases among providers, authorize grants for developing evidence-based practices and improving maternal mortality review committee data, and grants to develop integrated healthcare services for pregnant and postpartum women and babies. These investments come after many, many years of hard work by not only me but so many maternal health advocates across the country. Today, I applaud and thank them for their work and partnership in defeating this pernicious crisis.
“We cannot give up. We must continue working to advance policies that will save the lives of Black women. This is not a crisis Black women can end on our own – maternal mortality and morbidity disproportionately impacts Black women regardless of education and income. We need all medical providers, researchers, and scientists to work together on this issue.
“We must pass my MOMMAs Act to permanently extend Medicaid postpartum coverage in every single state. We must continue investing in and listening to maternal mortality review committees. We must develop and standardize evidenced-based best practices to save the lives of mommas and babies. We must invest in training for doulas and midwives, who help Black women through their pregnancy, birth, and postpartum processes.
“I remain deeply committed to ending the maternal mortality crisis. On this Black Maternal Health Week, I fight for all the Black women and families who have suffered complications and loss. We will save the lives of mommas.”
Congresswoman Kelly has been a leader on maternal health policy since coming to Congress nine years ago. She first introduced the MOMMA’s Act in the 115th Congress and has since passed the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Act; participated in and led multiple Congressional hearings on the topic; pushed for closing the Medicaid coverage gap; advocated for extending postpartum Medicaid coverage; addressing the social determinants of health; investing in clinical trial diversity; and in standardizing evidence-based best practices for saving the lives of mothers and babies.
This is news from the office of Congresswoman Robin L. Kelly.
