The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Black Maternal Health Week (Executive Calendar)” mentioning Tammy Duckworth was published in the Senate section on pages S1883-S1884 on April 13.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Black Maternal Health Week
Madam President, no community in America has been spared from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationwide, we have lost nearly 570,000 mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors, and friends. In Illinois, the number is 21,000.
Like so many other diseases and health conditions, the pandemic has inflicted disproportionate harm on communities of color: Black Americans, Native Americans, and members of the Latinx community. Sadly, these disparities come as no surprise. America has a long history of medical inequality. From premature births to premature deaths, people of color suffer disproportionately in America's troubled health system. People of color in America suffer more chronic and acute health conditions; they are likely to go without needed medical care; and they have shorter life expectancies. The reasons for the disparities are many, but they include access to affordable healthcare, inadequate research, and too few healthcare professionals of color.
Martin Luther King, Jr., called healthcare inequality the most shocking and inhumane form of injustice. Far too often, this inequality begins even before birth. It should shock the conscience of America--
one of the wealthiest nations on Earth--that we have one of the poorest records on the globe for maternal health.
Think of this: The United States is 1 of only 13 nations in the world wherein the maternal mortality rate--the death of mothers--is worse now than it was 25 years ago. How is that possible? Every year in America, nearly 1,000 women die from pregnancy-related complications, and 70,000 others suffer near fatal complications as a result of pregnancy.
Now think of this: Women of color in the United States are two to three times more likely than White women to die as a result of pregnancy. In Illinois, sadly, that number is six times more likely. What makes these maternal deaths even more tragic is that an estimated 60 percent--more than half of them--are preventable.
I have given much thought to this and have spoken with real experts, which is why Robin Kelly--the Congresswoman from Illinois--and I joined with Senator Duckworth and a number of other Democratic Senators in introducing legislation to decrease America's rates of maternal sickness and death, especially among new mothers of color. We call our measure the MOMMA Act.
One of the major provisions of this legislation is a requirement that Medicaid provide health coverage for new moms for a full year post-
pregnancy instead of just 60 days, which it currently is. Congresswoman Kelly and I worked hard to get a modified version of this provision in the American Rescue Plan, President Biden's singular achievement in his first few weeks in office. Thanks to the law, States now have the option to expand their Medicaid programs for new mothers for the next 5 years.
Making sure that new moms have health coverage for a full year post-
pregnancy will go a long way toward catching, preventing, and treating potentially life-threatening conditions and problems. This is critical because, in some States--even in my State of Illinois--nearly 60 percent of pregnancy-associated deaths occur between 43 and 364 days postpartum.
Well, there is good news to report today. While we are still working to pass the MOMMA Act, the State of Illinois pursued another avenue for expanding Medicaid coverage for new moms. For over a year, Illinois has been seeking a Medicaid section 1115 waiver to allow Medicaid-eligible women in our State to keep their health coverage for a year after their pregnancies.
Representatives Kelly, Underwood, Senator Duckworth, and I have been leading letters and championing this effort from our State, and, this week, I am happy to announce that the Biden-Harris administration granted that waiver, making Illinois the very first State in the Nation to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for new moms. This will ensure access to vital health services, help to promote better birth outcomes, reduce the rate of maternal sickness and death in my home State, and, I hope, set the stage as a model for other States to follow.
I can think of no better way to honor this year's Black Maternal Health Week than to support State efforts to expand Medicaid healthcare to new moms. Another way would be to pass Senator Booker's 2021 Black Maternal Health Week resolution, which I am proud to cosponsor.
As poet Maya Angelou told us, we cannot change the past, but when we know better, we must do better. We now know that we can do better to protect the lives of pregnant women and newborn babies, and I am pleased that my State of Illinois will be part of leading that effort.
Alerts Sign-up