Kaine & Murkowski Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Tackle Maternal And Infant Mortality

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Mothers and Newborns Success Act, bipartisan legislation to address the United States' disturbingly high maternal and infant mortality rates and reduce the well-documented racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

"The U.S. is the most prosperous, powerful, and innovative nation in the world-yet more mothers and infants die throughout pregnancy and childbirth than in nearly any other peer nation. For Black women, rates of maternal mortality are even higher," said Kaine. "This is tragic but overwhelmingly preventable-that's why I'm proud to introduce this legislation with Senator Murkowski to direct federal resources toward dramatically decreasing U.S. maternal and infant mortality and addressing inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes. This is a goal everyone should be able to get behind, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation."

"The racial and rural disparities in maternal and infant mortality rates in this country are alarming and unacceptable," said Murkowski. "Our legislation works to address this by investing in innovative approaches to maternal health care, improving data collection, strengthening support for women during the postpartum period, and expanding the use of telehealth in rural communities. Whether you're in Napakiak or New York City, every mother and child deserves access to quality care, and the programs implemented through this bill will help bring us closer to that goal."

Maternal and infant mortality in the U.S. is a tale of two crises: an overall rate that far exceeds other developed nations, and a rate among people of color that is yet worse. The overall U.S. maternal mortality rate in 2024 was 17.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, far higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-a collection of developed peer nations-average of 10.3. That same year, the U.S. infant mortality rate was 5.52 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared to an OECD average of 4.0. For both maternal and infant mortality rates, there are clear racial disparities, with Black and American Indian/Alaska Native women suffering worse outcomes than white women. For example, the 2024 maternal mortality rate among Black women was 44.8 per 100,000 live births, which is over three times higher than the maternal mortality rate for white women and more than four times the OECD average.

The Mothers and Newborns Success Act would aim to bring the U.S. maternal and infant mortality below the OECD average and reduce racial and ethnic disparities by directing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to take actions to improve maternal and infant health outcomes and deploy such measures in a manner that counters inequities. Specifically, the bill would:

• Provide grants administered through the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) State Maternal Health Innovation Program and the Supporting Maternal Health Innovation Program for states to create and implement plans to address disparities in maternal health and improve maternal health outcomes.
• Support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to classify birthing facilities so that patients know the level of risk-appropriate maternal and neonatal care at each facility. This would help improve care delivery and health outcomes for expectant mothers and their infants.
• Support the CDC's efforts to gather pregnancy checkbox data from death certificates to help provide more accurate data on maternal deaths.
• Support the CDC's data collection on maternal attitudes and experiences during the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum periods as well as efforts to provide technical assistance to states to ensure representation of communities of color in key datasets. This data would help determine and address gaps in care.
• Establish a pilot program through HRSA to identify and share best practices and evidence-based information on maternal health with providers and patients.
• Establish a National Maternal Health Research Network at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support innovative research on the underlying causes of maternal mortality and their treatment.
• Support HRSA's Rural Maternity and Obstetric Management Strategies (RMOMS) Program to improve access to and continuity of obstetric care in rural communities, including through the use of telehealth.
• Establish a public and provider awareness campaign through the CDC to promote awareness of maternal health warning signs and the importance of vaccinations for pregnant women and children.

Full text of the legislation is available here.

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