07/10/2021
MY TRANSLATED SUMMARY OF
The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021
The Bill will:
1. Make critical investments in social determinants of health that influence maternal health outcomes, like housing, transportation, and nutrition.
TRANSLATED : We need to fix all the reasons why black birthers can't get access to a safe and comfortable existence with proper prenatal care while raising hungry kids in the giant American food deserts.
2. Provide funding to community-based organizations that are working to improve maternal health outcomes and promote equity.
TRANSLATED: Put the money where the people are who will actually use the cash for resources where it's most needed and not steal it.
3. Comprehensively study the unique maternal health risks facing pregnant and postpartum veterans and support VA maternity care coordination programs.
TRANSLATED: Get some evidence-based facts on the unique ways in which birthing vets experience birth and parenting and help them manage any unique issues surrounding their fertility.
4. Grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to ensure that every mom in America receives culturally congruent maternity care and support.
TRANSLATED (if self-serving): Everybody deserves a doula (if not a midwife, too!)
5. Improve data collection processes and quality measures to better understand the causes of the maternal health crisis in the United States and inform solutions to address it.
TRANSLATED: Again, use evidence and facts, not guts and feelings (read: racism) to help fix this crisis of maternal health.
[SIDENOTE https://www.essence.com/festival/2021-essence-festival-of-culture/disparities-in-maternal-health-are-rooted-in-medical-apartheid/]
6. Support moms with maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders.
TRANSLATED: A lot of birthing people are self-medicating to cope with the twists and turns of being full of a human and hormones. Let's give them helpful alternatives (and I vote for a kid break every now and then, too).
7. Improve maternal health care and support for incarcerated moms.
TRANSLATED: First of all, can we release all those unfairly locked up humans (who ain't did sh*%$ physically/mentally -- at least not when off drugs -- to hurt anyone, but who are victims of a racist and unjust sentencing system designed to keep them subjugated and underfoot)? [SIDENOTE: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/politics/pregnant-postpartum-immigration-biden.html]
8. Invest in digital tools like telehealth to improve maternal health outcomes in underserved areas.
TRANSLATED: Improve the digital infrastructure to get teledocs out and about to where there are no hospitals. [SIDENOTE: Georgians living in rural communities are often 30 miles or more from the nearest medical provider, which prevents many from receiving even basic health care. http://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2020/03/rural-hospitals-crisis-top/]
9. Promote innovative payment models to incentivize high-quality maternity care and non-clinical perinatal support.
TRANSLATED: Help people use things like their FSA's and insurance, as well as subsidies to GET A DOULA and/or a midwife.
10. Invest in federal programs to address the unique risks for and effects of COVID-19 during and after pregnancy and to advance respectful maternity care in future public health emergencies.
TRANSLATED: READ THIS and BE VERY AFRAID FOR THE FUTURE:
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2021/02/10/why-black-women-are-less-likely-to-survive-pregnancy-and-whats-being-done-about-it
11. Invest in community-based initiatives to reduce levels of and exposure to climate change-related risks for moms and babies. TRANSLATION: Dude, climate change is REAL! As far as scholarly work out there I found two (of quite a few) schools of thought on this:
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/conflict-climate-change-and-covid-19-drive-extreme-hunger/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/376038
12. Promote maternal vaccinations to protect the health and safety of moms and babies.
TRANSLATION: Get your shots, folks, for... ALL OF THE THINGS! But then there's THIS interesting tidbit: true story? read and decide:
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/study-shows-flint-water-crisis-is-a-factor-for-some-in-vaccine-hesitancy
Racial disparities that contribute to non-Hispanic Black women being up to three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes are being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, experts worry.
