[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 79 (Tuesday, May 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H3958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     U.S. MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES

  (Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. State Department uses 
maternal mortality rates as one of its key metrics for evaluating how 
much a country values its women. By our own standards, the United 
States is failing that test as we rank just 47th for maternal mortality 
rate--the highest of any developed nation--and we remain one of the few 
countries that is actually seeing its rate of maternal mortality 
increase.
  Our medical technology leads the world, and we spend more on 
healthcare than any other nation, but what we need is a commitment--a 
national commitment--to bringing together the experts, stakeholders, 
and, yes, resources to end preventable maternal deaths.
  That is why I am proud to have introduced the Ending Maternal 
Mortality Act with Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler. Our legislation 
requires Federal health officials to develop a national strategy to 
combat maternal mortality with the goal of halving the rate of maternal 
mortality in the next decade and eliminating preventable maternal 
deaths entirely in the next 20 years.

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