Urge Congress to support comprehensive legislation addressing the Black
maternal health crisis - the Black Maternal Health Momnibus!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action Now
[ [link removed] ]TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

As a doula, the last year has weighed heavy on me and what it means for
women, gender non-conforming people, and their families to be pregnant in
the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The state of maternal health was
already in crisis, especially for Black women and Native families and
communities.

[ [link removed] ]***Tell your member of Congress to do everything they can to end the
maternal health crisis by supporting the Black Maternal Health
Momnibus!***

“The day of discharge I kept telling my nurses that I didn't feel well. I
was told my vital signs were good and that I was ready to go home. I got
home with my newborn and woke up in the middle of the night sweating. It
felt like it was a full-blown fever. After being rushed to the hospital in
an ambulance, it turns out I developed an infection from the C-section.
Now I'm pregnant again and am very scared. I don't want to die in the
hospital or after from undiagnosed complications.” Pam, a MomRising parent
from Ohio, shared.

Like too many Black moms, Pam fears losing their life to childbirth. Pam
survived, but too many moms in our nation do not. Every person giving
birth deserves as safe and healthy of an experience as possible and should
have the opportunity to watch their child grow up and thrive. Every child
should have a chance to have their mother by their side.

[ [link removed] ]SIGN our letter to Congress to support the most comprehensive
legislative effort yet to address the Black maternal health crisis in
America - the Black Maternal Health Momnibus!

Introduced today in Congress, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus is
composed of twelve individual bills sponsored by members of the Black
Maternal Health Caucus and Senator Cory Booker. The legislation will:

* Advance policies to address the risks to pregnant people during this
pandemic;
* Make critical investments in social determinants of health that
influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, and
nutrition;
* Provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to
improve maternal health outcomes particularly for Black women;
* Comprehensively study the unique maternal health risks facing women
veterans and invest in VA maternity care coordination;
* Grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to ensure that every mom in
America receives maternity care and support from people she can trust;
* Improve data collection processes and quality measures to better
understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in the United
States and inform solutions to address them;
* Invest in maternal mental health care and substance use disorder
treatments;
* Improve maternal health care and support for incarcerated women;
* Invest in digital tools like telehealth to improve maternal health
outcomes in underserved areas;
* Promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality
maternity care and continuity of health insurance coverage from
pregnancy through labor and delivery and up to 1 year postpartum;
* Address the impacts of climate change on maternal and infant health
outcomes;
* Increase maternal immunization rates and promote the health of moms
and babies during COVID-19 and beyond.

[ [link removed] ]Add your name to our letter to Congress urging them to support this
historic piece of legislation to save moms!

The fear and the danger are real. Right now, the United States is the most
dangerous place to give birth in the developed world, [1] with major
racial disparities where Black women lose their lives at 3 to 4 times more
than the rate of white women due to maternity-related causes, independent
of age, economic background, or education.[2] This is a fact that has not
changed for several decades.[3] COVID-19 adds another dimension of
complications from increased anxiety and isolation, to accessing a
strained healthcare system, to concerns about vaccines.[ [link removed] ]

Kira Dixon-Johnson, for example, was in excellent health with no
pre-existing conditions when on April 12, 2016, she delivered a healthy
baby boy. Within 24 hours, however, Kira would lose her life after
bleeding internally for over ten hours due to a lacerated bladder.[ [link removed] ] For
ten hours her pain and her voice were ignored. For ten hours her family
begged for medical intervention to no avail. Kira’s death was preventable
and her story illustrates a tragic reality for too many Black moms in our
country. Racial disparities in care are needlessly costing lives and
sending babies home without their moms.

This is why we need YOUR support to get the Black Maternal Health Momnibus
passed by Congress. This package of legislation takes urgent, serious
action to end this crisis by building on existing legislation in Congress
to comprehensively address every dimension of America’s maternal health
crisis.

[4]SIGN our letter now to Congress in support of the Black Maternal Health
Momnibus!!

We know that right now, hospitals and healthcare systems are already
overburdened. During this time, it’s important to take care of our most
vulnerable populations, including pregnant and birthing patients.
Legislation like the Momnibus will help us to do this, and also set up the
foundations we need to address future health crises impacting our
communities.

Together we are a powerful voice in the movement to save moms.

- Tina, Nadia, Donna and the whole MomsRising.org/MamásConPoder Team

[1] [5]U.S. is the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed
world, NBC News

[2][3] [ [link removed] ]The Black–White Disparity in Pregnancy-Related Mortality From 5
Conditions: Differences in Prevalence and Case-Fatality Rates, US National
Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

[4] [ [link removed] ]A Pandemic Pregnancy Is a More Dangerous Pregnancy, The Atlantic

[5] [ [link removed] ]The crisis in America’s maternity wards, The Washington Post

 


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