Sponsors (19)
The resolution spotlights racial disparities and service gaps in maternal care and promotes culturally congruent and mental-health supports that could improve outcomes for Black and underserved birthing people, but doing so may require new public spending and could provoke legal and political conflicts—potentially delaying or complicating implementation.
Black women and birthing people (particularly racial-ethnic minorities) would receive formal recognition of severe maternal mortality and morbidity disparities, creating political and data support for targeted policy and funding to reduce those disparities.
Low-income and rural communities and health systems would have workforce and access problems (maternity care deserts, low Medicaid reimbursement) documented, creating a basis for programs to expand obstetric and perinatal services in underserved areas.
Pregnant and postpartum people would get increased focus on maternal mental health screening and services, which could expand access to behavioral health care during and after pregnancy.
Emphasis on criminalization and punitive surveillance of pregnant people could prompt legal or regulatory changes that some view as reducing accountability or increasing harms for pregnant people.
If remedies involve expanded services or higher Medicaid reimbursements, taxpayers and state budgets could face increased costs to fund those programs.
Calling out systemic causes and reproductive-rights impacts could spark contested political and legal fights that delay implementation of concrete programs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Records findings on severe racial disparities in maternal mortality and urges justice-informed, culturally congruent responses and investments in maternal and reproductive health.
Official title: Supporting the designation of the week of April 11 through April 17, 2025, as the eighth annual "Black Maternal Health Week", founded by Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Inc., to bring national attention to the maternal and reproductive health crisis in the United States and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among Black women and birthing people.
Introduced April 10, 2025 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress April 10, 2025
Declares findings describing the high rates of pregnancy-related death and severe maternal morbidity experienced by Black women and birthing people in the United States, citing CDC data and trends since the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies drivers such as structural racism, social determinants of health, limited access to obstetric care, low Medicaid reimbursement, workforce shortages, barriers facing Black midwives and doulas, insufficient mental-health care, workplace accommodation denials, punitive surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people, and effects from the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Frames justice-informed, culturally congruent care and targeted investments in reproductive and maternal health services as necessary responses, and records concern that most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. The resolution is declaratory — it presents findings and priorities rather than creating new programs or funding in law.