Send a thank you to Governor Murphy for standing up for maternal health

Pregnant Black mom

In the past few weeks, New Jersey took a MAJOR step forward on addressing our state’s maternal health crisis when Governor Phil Murphy signed five maternal health bills into law. The passing and signing of these bills are crucial because currently, our state ranks 45th out of 50 states in terms of maternal deaths, and Black women in our state face a maternal death rate that is 5x higher than that of white women, a rate that is higher than the national average.

These new laws are important and needed because they will:

Provide Medicaid coverage for doula care
Establish a Maternal Mortality Review Committee
Establish a perinatal episode of care pilot program in Medicaid
Codify current practice regarding completion of the Perinatal Risk Assessment form by certain Medicaid health care providers
Provide health benefits coverage for certain non-medically indicated early elective deliveries under Medicaid program, State Health Benefits Program, and School Employees' Health Benefits Program

Use the form to the right to send a letter to Governor Murphy, thanking him for prioritizing healthy births in NJ!

Dear Governor Murphy,

Thank you for passing A1662, A1862, A4923, A4935 and A4993, five important pieces of maternal health legislation, into law to help save the lives of moms in New Jersey!

As a MomsRising member in New Jersey, I am committed to lifting up moms and families, which means ensuring that moms have access to a safe and healthy birth. The signing and implementation of these bills are a step in the right direction when it comes to this!

I am thankful that solutions, such as making doula care more accessible and establishing a review committee to investigate and make recommendations around the tragic loss of mothers during birth, are now going to help our state become a better place for pregnant and birthing moms. These are essential commitments that we can build upon in the future as we continue addressing and implementing solutions to our state’s maternal health crisis.

My hope is that we will continue to prioritize addressing maternal mortality and morbidity, with a focus on the devastating racial disparities that are still very much a reality for Black mothers. Though we know more work must be done to turn the tide on losing mothers to preventable causes and to ensure that every mom in NJ has access to a safe, healthy and equitable birth, these bills are crucial steps forward that we need to move in the right direction.

Thank you for standing with us on this issue.

Sincerely,

Contact Information

Name*

Email address*

Street address*

Address line 2

City*

State*

Region

ZIP Code*

Mobile Phone

Get text message alerts (Standard text message charges may apply)

Mobile Phone*

Privacy Policy (the basics): We do not share the information you've given us with unaffiliated groups without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, the President, or other targets specifically noted on the signup page. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so. For our complete privacy policy, click here.