[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 63 (Monday, April 11, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E378-E379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK 2022

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ALMA S. ADAMS

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 11, 2022

  Ms. ADAMS. Madam Speaker, information can save lives. Even children's 
cartoons used to say that ``knowing is half the battle.''
  So, during the fifth Annual Black Maternal Health Week, which runs 
April 11-17, I want to impress upon our community that research and 
data could not be more important to our efforts to close the mortality 
and morbidity gaps between white and Black parents.
  When my fellow members of Congress learn that Black Americans are 
three-to-four times more likely to die in childbirth than white 
Americans, they pay attention--even if they're not paying attention to 
concepts like structural racism, implicit bias, and social determinants 
of health.
  However, the data also tell us that bias and racism are alive and 
well in healthcare; or as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who we lost 54 
years ago this week, once said: ``Of all the forms of inequality, 
injustice in Health care is the most shocking and inhumane.''
  Health care is not equal in our country, and it never has been so we 
shouldn't be surprised when that inequality extends to mothers and 
their children--and the numbers here don't lie. Unfortunately, we know 
the truth: maternal health in America is in crisis, and like so many 
crises, the maternal mortality crisis has hit Black America harder.
  As we've seen from the COVID-19 pandemic, the adage is true: when 
white America comes down with a cold, Black America gets pneumonia. In 
maternal care, Black women are three to four times more likely to die 
from preventable pregnancy-related complications than non-Hispanic, 
white women--no matter their level of education or socioeconomic 
status--even though 60 percent these deaths are preventable.
  What's worse is for every mother lost there are hundreds of near 
misses. And annually, approximately 50,000 women experience severe 
pregnancy complications which result in serious health consequences.
  However, because we have this data, we've been able to develop policy 
solutions to address the Black maternal health crisis in America. If we 
get this work done, we will not only raise the tide for Black women--
who are among the most marginalized and the most vulnerable--we will 
also improve outcomes and care for all women.
  My work on this issue started when I joined up with then-Senator 
Kamala Harris and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to introduce our 
Annual Black Maternal Health Week resolution, something we've done 
every year since. Then, in 2019, I joined the youngest Black woman ever 
elected to Congress, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, to launch a 
Congressional caucus focused on Black maternal health.
  As the co-founders and co-chairs of the bipartisan Black Maternal 
Health Caucus, we developed a solution: the Momnibus. The Momnibus is a 
package of 12 bills to comprehensively address all aspects of the 
maternal mortality crisis, with a focus on Black parents using 
reproductive justice as a guide. It is a solution that says, 
unequivocally, Black mothers matter.
  With the support of a historic coalition of nearly 200 health care 
providers, Black mothers, policymakers, researchers, activists, and 
maternal health advocates we crafted a collaborative, targeted and 
timely set of policies to improve maternal health outcomes for Black 
pregnant and postpartum individuals, particularly during the COVID 
pandemic. The Black Maternal Health Momnibus will fill gaps in existing 
legislation to comprehensively address every dimension of the Black 
maternal health crisis in America.
  Throughout the process, we remained very intentional about centering 
the voices of Black women and ensuring Black woman-led organizations 
are consulted often. The Momnibus makes investments in social 
determinants of health, community-based organizations, the growth and 
diversification of the perinatal workforce, improvements in data 
collection and quality measures, digital tools like telehealth, and 
innovative payment models. Finally, in addition to direct efforts to 
improve Black maternal health outcomes, the Momnibus focuses on high-
risk populations, including women veterans, incarcerated women, and 
Native Americans.

[[Page E379]]

  When we reintroduced the Momnibus last year, we went from nine bills 
to 12 bills because we had to have legislation to address 
immunization--vaccines--as well as COVID-19. The state of maternal 
health in this country is a crisis, but with the pandemic, we 
experienced a crisis within a crisis--and tens of thousands of pregnant 
women have had to struggle with being pregnant or giving birth while 
experiencing COVID-19. Two of these new bills in the Momnibus package 
promote maternal vaccinations to protect the health and safety of moms 
and babies and invest in federal programs to address the unique risks 
for and effects of COVID-19 during and after pregnancy.
  Last year, we received good news when all the eligible provisions of 
the Momnibus were included in the Build Back Better Act, which passed 
the House. The Momnibus provisions in Build Back Better invest in 
addressing social determinants of health that influence maternal health 
outcomes; fund community-based organizations working to improve 
maternal health outcomes; grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to 
improve maternity care; support moms with mental health conditions and 
substance abuse disorders; invest in Historically Black Colleges and 
Universities to train culturally competent health professionals; and 
address the effects of COVID-19 and climate change on mothers.
  That's a comprehensive approach to this crisis, something we've never 
tried before. However, the Build Back Better Act is stalled in the 
Senate and will likely be passed in a more limited form, if at all. We 
as Members of Congress must take the Black maternal health crisis 
seriously. Moms and children are dying, and we must act.
  When we think about how important mothers are, we should recognize 
that parents touch so many lives, even outside their immediate 
families. Their threads weave into countless others to form the fabric 
of our communities. When we lose a parent to this crisis, we lose 
teachers, volunteers, activists, professionals, caregivers, 
parishioners, and mommies. When too many threads are pulled, the fabric 
unravels.
  We owe our communities a different future. This Black Maternal Health 
Week, let's work together to pass the Momnibus into law.
  Our mamas cannot wait.

                          ____________________