Black maternal healthcare and standards of care

 African-American women have a three times higher rate of death related to childbirth, and disproportionately more complications during pregnancy. I will work to address that disparity as part of expanded healthcare for women during their reproductive years.

Senator Walter Timilty is aware of this issue, and when it came to the State Senate, Timilty voted for a 14-month study to investigate. That report came out in spring 2022 -- it confirmed that it's true that  African-American women have a three times higher morbidity and mortality compared to white women. Every nurse already knew that, because it's been in nursing textbooks for decades. Kathleen thinks the State Senate should DO something about this issue, not just waste taxpayers' money on a 14-month study like Timilty supported. 

When the report finally came out in spring 2022, it included a dozen recommendations, ranging from promoting doulas (birth assistants) to educating maternity doctors about the problem. Timilty chose inaction. Kathleen wants action!

In January 2023, Kathleen will introduce a dozen bills in the State Senate to match the dozen recommendations from the maternal health care report. This is why Massachusetts needs fewer establishment incumbents who do nothing to change the status quo, and why Massachusetts needs more nurses like Kathleen in the State Senate!

Details and background below, with links to the original reports.  

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Only 87% of Black women have healthcare during their reproductive years. I plan to work on expanding coverage for Black women. Only 30% of Black women are eligible under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

For years, nurses (including myself) have known these statistics related to Black maternal healthcare disparities, healthcare needs, and maternal morbidity.

• I want to expand funding for Planned Parenthood, for instance for contraception and reproductive education for young women.
• I want to see that hospitals adopt best practices and standards (accountability) as it directly relates to African-American maternal healthcare.
• I want to implement expanded insurance coverage for maternal healthcare for African-American women.

This problem is systemic and longstanding, and the solutions I outline above are also well-established -- but they aren't getting done! The federal Congress has been attempting to address this problem for years -- but the bill has never passed, so the problem continues unaddressed. The same bill has been introduced since 2017, called the "MOMMA's Act" for "Mothers and Offspring Mortality and Morbidity Awareness." The bills in Congress have been:

• H.R.5977 & S.3776: MOMMA's Act in 2017-2018 (never passed)
• H.R.1897 & S.916: MOMMA's Act in 2019-2020 (never passed)
• H.R.3407 & S.411: MOMMA's Act in 2021-2022 (no action still)

Those bills all say the same thing, such as: "the maternal mortality rate varies drastically for women by race and ethnicity. There are about 13 deaths per 100,000 live births for White women [and] 40.8 deaths per 100,000 live births for Black women." [Finding #5 from S.411 in 2021].
We KNOW what the problem is, and we KNOW the solution -- but the process to implement that solution has been "slow-jammed" for years at the federal level. And the same applies at the state level in Massachusetts -- here, we DID pass a bill -- but only to investigate further, rather than to implement any solution!

State bill H.4818 was signed by Gov. Baker on Jan. 13 2021 -- it created a legislative committee to investigate racial inequities in maternal healthcare. The 27-member committee has until March 2022 to file a report and recommendations and then file a new bill -- why did we delay for 14 months before even writing a bill? Won't the old federal bill from five years ago says the same thing that the new 2022 bill will say?

Do you want to guess what they'll find after 14 months of investigation? I'll bet they conclude the same thing that has been concluded for years -- that Black women suffer 3 times the maternal death rate of White women; and that the solution is more standards and accountability, plus expanded insurance coverage and reproductive education.

I hope the 2021-2022 Massachusetts investigation finds those same conclusions, because nurses have known about this issue for many years. It's good that the Massachusetts legislature started the process -- now let's push them to implement the well-established solutions. I will be following this legislation and advocating for appropriate expanded coverage for Black Maternal health care.

[Statements above can be verified at NationalPartnership.org; in the federal bill S.411 in 2021; and in the state bill H.4818, "An Act to reduce racial inequities in maternal health" The spring 2022 report can be downloaded here: https://kathleen4senate.com/MaternalHealthReportMar22.pdf "Racial Inequities in Maternal Health"