Mothers of Color Are Dying at an Alarming Rate & Twitter Users Are Begging People to Pay Attention

In August, Sen. Gillibrand announced the Modernizing Obstetric Medicine Standards (MOMS) Act, new legislation that would help prevent women from suffering from medical complications or dying before, during, and after childbirth. 

A press release on the legislation explains how it would work: "Hospitals often lack the funding and resources necessary for supplies and proper training to implement standards and prevent complications and deaths arising from childbirth. The MOMS Act would help reduce maternal deaths and complications in the United States by providing funding to states and hospitals to develop and implement standardized maternal safety best practices, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to prevent and respond to complications arising from childbirth."

“Our country has the highest maternal mortality rate in the industrialized world, and it’s even worse for black women, who are up to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications nationally. In New York City, black women are twelve times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. This is completely unacceptable and largely avoidable, and it’s a crisis that we can and must solve now,” said Gillibrand in the press release. “This much-needed legislation would help our hospitals monitor all mothers before, during, and after they give birth, for preventable but potentially fatal conditions like hemorrhage and preeclampsia, and it would provide them with the federal funding they need to purchase supplies to implement new procedures and effectively treat patients. We need to protect and value mothers, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation to address the urgent crisis of maternal mortality and help end racial disparities in our health care system.”

"The US has the worst maternal mortality rate in the developed world and due to racial bias in our health care system, women of color are disproportionately affected regardless of income, education, or access to healthcare," Bandele said. "This legislation would help change that by standardizing protocols and increasing training for medical staff, which helps mitigate the impact of implicit bias, and authorizing a program to support hospitals serving low-income communities that are most at risk for maternal mortality. We commend this bill for including a focus on reducing the racial and ethnic disparities that drive maternal deaths."  

The legislation will need to be considered by a committee before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate. 

In the meantime, MomRising's discussion with legislators and the alarming statistics cited throughout the conversation speak for themselves. This is a public health crisis we should be ashamed of as Americans. We must do better for mothers of color.