Dear Senator:
As one of over a million members of MomsRising, I am writing to ask you to support critical investments in maternal health in the Build Back Better Act!
The United States is currently the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world, with major racial disparities where Black women lose their lives at 3 to 4 times the rate of white women due to maternity-related causes, independent of age, economic background, or education, a fact that has gone unchanged for several decades.
The Build Back Better Act includes critical investments to end our nation's maternal health crisis including key elements of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus to address health disparities. The Build Back Better Act includes provisions that will:
- Grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to ensure that every mom in America receives maternity care and support from people she can trust;
- Make critical investments in social determinants of health that influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, and nutrition;
- Invest in maternal mental health care and substance use disorder treatments;
- Address the impacts of climate change on maternal and infant health outcomes;
- Provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to improve maternal health outcomes, particularly for Black women;
- 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 it;
- Invest in digital tools like telehealth to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas;
- Invest in reducing maternal mortality and require Medicaid and CHIP to cover full benefits for one year for pregnant and postpartum women. This, along with other key provisions of the Momnibus legislation makes over $1 billion in historic investments in the health and care of moms.
We know that at least 60% of maternal deaths can be prevented and infant mortality reduced with investment in public policies and culturally competent care. We urge you to support these historic investments in the Build Back Better Act to save the lives of moms and babies.
Sincerely,