Richmond, Virginia—This week marks the nationwide observance of Black Maternal Health Week, which serves as an opportunity to both mark the wide disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes for Black moms compared to their white counterparts and to celebrate the organizations working to close those gaps. 

The statistics around Black maternal health are stark. Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, and experience significantly higher rates of low birthweight and premature birth. Recent studies that have controlled for situations like underlying health conditions and poverty have still found significant disparities in outcomes for Black and white women. The differences are largely systemic: Black mothers, regardless of health or financial status, experience systemic racism and implicit bias in the healthcare system, reduced access to prenatal care, reproductive health care, and less access to pain medication during delivery than white mothers. 

Fortunately, several concrete actions improve these disparities considerably: cultural competency training for healthcare providers, access to prenatal, labor, and postpartum support, and ongoing postpartum follow-up care for Black parents. Access to doula services, particularly by Black doulas, has also been a significant factor in reducing Black maternal mortality: Black women are less likely to die when a doula is in the room advocating for them. 

Two important bills were passed through the General Assembly this year that would address this disparity in maternal health outcomes and utilize evidence-based best practices to help reduce them. Unfortunately, both are languishing on the Governor’s desk after the General Assembly rejected substitutes that would substantially weaken each. Delegate Charniele Herring’s HB1209  would revitalize the Maternal Health Task Force, providing substantial state resources to help improve maternal health outcomes in communities across Virginia. Governor Youngkin offered a substitute (ultimately rejected by the General Assembly)  that removed the bill’s gender-inclusive language and gave the governor the exclusive power to staff the task force. This substitute would have meant that the task force’s mandate would be subject to the political whims and political agenda of whoever was in power, rather than focusing on improving health outcomes. The second bill, Senator Lashrece Aird’s SB 1418, allows doula care to be covered by Medicaid, which would allow access to this often life-saving service to low-income families. The Governor has yet to act on this bill. For the second year in a row, the Governor also vetoed a paid family and medical leave bill that would have made it possible for new parents to take paid time off after giving birth, a policy that also significantly improves health outcomes for both mothers and children and would have been a huge help to non-white parents and workers who generally have less access to paid family and medical leave than white parents. 

“Governor Youngkin needs to remember that he took an oath to serve and care for the needs of all Virginians, not just Northern Virginia investment bankers,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director at Progress Virginia. “Black maternal mortality is a crisis in the Commonwealth, and signing HB 1209 and SB 1418 to help improve outcomes for Black women would go a long way to prove that he’s not just paying lip service to the idea of being a Governor who looks out for Virginia parents and families. We urge him to sign these important pieces of legislation that will allow the people who know best to go about the business of saving lives and creating a generation of healthy Black moms and babies.”