ATLANTA – Community-based organizations across the country working to reduce maternal mortality would get an influx of federal funding under legislation introduced Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
Warnock and fellow sponsor Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., cited a study the Journal of the American Medical Association released last week showing maternal mortality doubled between 1999 and 2019, with most deaths occurring among Black women.
“The rate of maternal mortality is an ongoing and worsening crisis,” Warnock said. “Black woman are particularly at risk in the state of Georgia, where they are three to four times more likely to die related to childbirth or pregnancy than their white sisters.”
The national study came out at the same time the Georgia Department of Public Health released a study of maternal mortality in the Peach State.
The state study reported 113 deaths of women who either were pregnant or had delivered within the past year between 2018 and 2020. That translates to a rate of 30.2 deaths for every 100,000 live births, up from 25.1 deaths per 100,000 births in Georgia between 2015 and 2017.
Of those 113 deaths, the study concluded that 89% had at least some chance of being prevented, Katie Kopp, director of government relations at the public health department, told members of the Georgia Board of Public Health Tuesday.
The leading causes of maternal mortality in Georgia differed depending on the race of the mother. In the case of Black women, the leasing cause of death was myopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. For white women, underlying mental health conditions caused the most maternal deaths.
Geographically, the health districts centered around Columbus and Macon saw more maternal deaths than any other part of Georgia, according to the state study.
The General Assembly has sought to address maternal mortality in recent years, first by allocating $2 million to prevent maternal mortality in rural Georgia in 2018. Last year, lawmakers expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income mothers up to one year after giving birth.
At the federal level, Warnock’s new bill would create a five-year, $50 million grant program to help community-based organizations lower maternal mortality and reduce bias, racism, and discrimination in maternal-care settings.
The legislation is being cosponsored by Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez – both from New Jersey – and Tina Smith of Minnesota.