[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 15, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       MERCK FOR MOTHERS PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Lance) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANCE. Madam Speaker, I rise to call attention to one of the 
world's oldest and most preventable health tragedies and to recognize 
efforts under way to address it. I am speaking of the needless and 
preventable death of women in pregnancy and childbirth.
  Motherhood is, of course, at the heart of much of what we value and 
cherish in our civilization. Yet even today, in this age of scientific 
achievement, becoming a mother still carries great risk. During the 
next 10 years, an estimated 3 million women may die attempting to bring 
new life into the world. This is approximately 1,000 mothers per day. 
Yet when a mother dies, we lose so much. Her baby is at greater risk 
and so are her other children. Families are torn apart, and some are 
thrust into poverty, or deeper into poverty.
  Maternal mortality is a problem in the developing world. It is also a 
problem, Madam Speaker, in the United States of America. As I 
understand the figures, mothers dying around the time of childbirth 
doubled here in this country between 1990 and 2008. Unfortunately, 
women in the United States have a higher risk of dying from pregnancy-
related complications than women in 38 other countries.
  Yet in acknowledging this tragedy, I rise to recognize and applaud 
efforts that bring real hope. In my district in Whitehouse Station, New 
Jersey, the health care company Merck has just announced a new program: 
Merck for Mothers. Merck has pledged a half billion dollars over the 
next decade to help alleviate this situation, complications of 
pregnancy and childbirth. The people of Merck will dedicate their 
expertise to help make proven solutions more widely available, to 
develop new technologies, and to improve public awareness to save 
lives.
  Making progress against this complex challenge will not be easy. It 
is not purely a medical problem, and there are no magic bullets.
  I applaud Merck and other organizations and individuals who are 
dedicating their time, their resources, and their expertise to creating 
an environment where no woman has to die in order to bring a child into 
the world.

                          ____________________