Last progress January 23, 2025 (1 year ago)
Introduced on January 23, 2025 by Cory Anthony Booker
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text: CR S339-340)
Updated 2 days ago
Last progress January 28, 2026 (1 week ago)
Designates January 23, 2025 as Maternal Health Awareness Day and expresses support for public awareness and actions to reduce maternal mortality, severe pregnancy-related complications, and postpartum mental health problems. The resolution highlights rising pregnancy-related deaths, persistent disparities, promising community-based care models, and steps some states have taken (like extending Medicaid postpartum coverage), and it calls for respectful, equitable maternity care and investments in maternal health workforce and telehealth.
Approximately 800 women in the United States die each year from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
The pregnancy-related mortality ratio in the United States more than quadrupled between 1987 and 2021.
According to the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group, the United States had a significant percentage increase in maternal mortality in 2020.
83.5 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States are considered preventable.
Each year, as many as 60,000 women in the United States suffer from severe maternal morbidity (serious, unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery with significant short- and long-term consequences).
Who is most directly affected: pregnant and postpartum women, especially people in communities with higher maternal mortality and morbidity, will be the primary focus of awareness and advocacy prompted by the resolution. Health care providers and the broader maternal health workforce are named as targets for support and potential workforce investments; community-based maternal care programs and telehealth services are highlighted as promising approaches. Families and communities who have experienced pregnancy-related loss receive formal recognition. Practically, the resolution does not change law or provide funding—its main effect is symbolic: increasing public and policymaker attention, encouraging voluntary action by states, health systems, and funders, and legitimizing priorities such as Medicaid postpartum coverage extensions, workforce strengthening, and equitable care initiatives. Because it contains no funding or mandates, agencies and states are encouraged rather than required to act; its influence will depend on follow-up policy, budgets, and program choices by federal, state, and private actors.