Sponsors (16)
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Cory Anthony Booker · Last progress April 16, 2026
The resolution aims to reduce Black maternal mortality by directing culturally tailored investments and support for community-based providers, but doing so will likely increase public spending and could face legal challenges or produce uneven care quality across states.
Black pregnant and postpartum people would receive targeted investments in culturally congruent, justice-informed maternity care, likely improving care experience and reducing racial disparities in maternal outcomes.
Medicaid beneficiaries, low-income people, and residents of maternity care deserts (including rural communities) could gain expanded access to prenatal and postpartum care through increased support for community-based providers such as Black midwives and doulas.
Calling out low Medicaid reimbursements and workforce shortages could prompt policy changes that improve provider participation and care availability for low-income mothers.
Targeted investments to address racial disparities would likely require increased federal or state spending, which could raise costs for taxpayers.
Programs that prioritize race-specific approaches could face legal or political challenges that delay or limit implementation of services intended to reduce disparities.
If investments emphasize community-based providers without concurrent regulation or unified licensure/reimbursement standards, care quality and payment consistency could vary across states, producing uneven outcomes for pregnant people.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Records findings that Black women face markedly higher maternal mortality, identifies systemic causes, and urges investment in justice‑informed, culturally congruent maternal care models.
Declares congressional findings that Black women in the United States face maternal mortality and morbidity rates roughly two to three times higher than White women, citing a 2023 CDC rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births for Black women and a 26% increase in Black maternal mortality since the COVID–19 pandemic. Identifies systemic drivers including structural racism, gender oppression, social determinants of health, limited access to care (maternity care deserts), low Medicaid reimbursement, workforce shortages, and barriers to licensure and reimbursement for Black midwives, doulas, and community-based providers. Highlights that over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, documents higher rates of obstetric complications and cesarean deliveries among Black women, notes gaps in vaccination and mental-health services, and raises concerns about workplace accommodation denials and punitive, justice-system interactions (e.g., shackling, nonconsensual drug testing, separation). Notes that justice-informed, culturally congruent care models are beneficial and warrant investment to improve outcomes.