By Protect Our Care
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
American women suffer the highest rates of maternal mortality, with moms of color experiencing the worst of the crisis. Black women are nearly three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes, and Hispanic and Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) moms experience higher risks of pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia, hypertension, and gestational diabetes, compared to white women. Most deaths and life-threatening complications are completely preventable with timely, high-quality care. These disparities are the outcome of deep inequities in access to health care, structural racism, and a system that too often fails women of color at every stage of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. Instead of preventing and improving maternal health, Republicans are stripping coverage that mothers rely on, worsening an already deadly crisis.
Trump and the GOP slashed over $1 trillion from Medicaid, the nation’s largest payer of maternal health, last year and put coverage for millions of low-income mothers and access to health care providers at risk. Nearly 50 labor and delivery units have shuttered, and over 140 are at risk of closing their doors due to Republican health care cuts. As access to care shrinks, the consequences are clear: fewer providers, longer distances to care, and more preventable deaths among all mothers.
However, this Tri-Caucus week, Democrats are working to improve the health of new moms in our nation. Democrats are fighting to reverse the largest cuts to health care in history. Representatives Lauren Underwood and Alma Adams and Senator Cory Booker reintroduced the Momnibus to fight maternal mortality, morbidity, and disparities that affect mothers of all backgrounds.
The Momnibus Would Save Lives. The Momnibus package would make critical investments in the social determinants of health that affect pregnant people and new moms and families and support moms, including by supporting maternal mental health and investments in research to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths. Representatives Lauren Underwood and Alma Adams, who are the co-chairs of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, and Senator Cory Booker reintroduced the Momnibus this past March to fight maternal mortality, morbidity, and disparities that affect mothers of all backgrounds. The Momnibus is comprised of 14 different pieces of legislation that are aimed at improving maternal health and reducing mortality rates. It includes:
- Critical investments in social determinants of health that affect new and expectant moms;
- Extending WIC eligibility during postpartum and breastfeeding periods;
- Funding for community-based organizations working to improve maternal health outcomes;
- Funding for maternal health care for veterans;
- Investments in a culturally competent perinatal workforce;
- Improved data collection processes and quality measures to understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in America;
- Support for maternal mental health conditions;
- Improved maternal health care and support for incarcerated moms;
- Invest in digital tools to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas;
- Promote innovative payment methods to incentivize high-quality maternal care;
- Investments in federal programs to support maternal health during public health emergencies;
- Investments in community-based initiatives to reduce climate change-related risks for moms and babies;
- Investments in research to reduce preventable causes of maternal deaths; and
- Promotion of maternal vaccinations to protect healthy moms and babies.
Moms of Color Rely on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Around 41 percent of all births in the United States were financed by Medicaid, but this number increases to 65 percent of births from Black mothers and nearly 60 percent of births from Latina mothers. With 80 percent of maternal mortality deaths being preventable, the GOP’s draconian cuts to Medicaid will only increase the disparity in maternal mortality rates and lead to more needless deaths among mothers and children of color. Hundreds of thousands of pregnant women across the country rely on Medicaid for prenatal visits, ultrasounds, and screenings for conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and postpartum depression, but face loss of coverage thanks to the big, ugly bill. Republicans also ripped away the tax credits that helped Black, Latino, and AANHPI Americans reach record levels of health coverage and access to low- or no-cost plans.
Trump’s Health Care Cuts Are Shuttering Maternity Wards And Exacerbating America’s Maternal Health Crisis. Over 1,000 hospitals, nursing homes, maternity wards, and other critical providers nationwide have shuttered, are at risk of closing, or have cut essential services, forcing more Americans to travel further for maternity care and face longer wait times in emergency rooms to get care for complications. According to Public Citizen, the hospitals that serve communities with a larger share of Black and Hispanic residents are at greater risk of being forced to close or cut services such as maternity care as a result of GOP cuts to Medicaid. At a time when 35 percent of counties already lack birthing hospitals and birth centers. GOP cuts have shuttered 47 more labor and delivery units and put over 140 at risk of closing their doors since the passage of the big, ugly bill. Medicaid cuts have also stopped moms from having the support they need during childbirth. Moms nationwide are being left without the care they need due to Medicaid cuts.
The Trump Administration Gutted Critical Programs and Lifesaving Research for Hispanic Moms. The Trump administration launched an assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) – leaving Black, Hispanic, and AAPI moms in the dust by destroying decades of research and progress that could save lives. In his latest proposed budget, Trump called for $6 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health and for cutting maternal and child health programs by over $800 million. The Trump administration is pushing to eliminate many essential programs entirely, including the Healthy Start program, which serves mothers and infants in high-risk communities, Maternal Mortality Review Committees, Perinatal Quality Collaboratives, and other programs that track maternal mortality and share solutions for reducing it. As recently as the beginning of September, HHS Office of Minority Health cancelled 16 grants totalling $38 million funding programs that studied infant and maternal mortality and community health programs that checked on new moms in postpartum. Trump’s Supreme Court undermined affirmative action, and his administration is targeting DEI at medical schools, making it harder than ever to increase the number of Black and Hispanic physicians and health care providers in the health workforce, which can help reduce health disparities. The Trump administration is undermining maternal health from all sides.
