Prevent Maternal Mortality in Virginia!

Maternal mortality is on the rise! We can enact simple measures to prevent this alarming problem. Email your Senator today and tell them to vote in support of mothers in the Commonwealth!

I’m writing to urge you to vote in favor of several budget items that would help decrease the maternal mortality rate for people of color in our community.

These budget amendments include expanding Medicaid coverage for new moms from 60 days to 365 days postpartum, increased access to contraception, including long-acting, reversible contraception (LARCs) like IUDs, and exploring the possibility of Medicaid reimbursement for midwife and doula care for pregnant people. By passing this package of bills, we will be making significant progress towards addressing the maternal mortality crisis we are currently facing.

A pregnant person should have access to safe, respectful, and affordable reproductive and maternal health care before, during, and after pregnancy. Black women are discriminated against by their doctors, have a more difficult time accessing abortion and birth control, and are dying at unprecedented rates when they have babies.

Too many people, particularly people of color, are suffering from complications in pregnancy that can lead to serious illnesses and even death. Often, these complications could have been prevented but weren’t due to systemic barriers, a lack of access to affordable healthcare, and racism. All of us deserve a doctor or nurse who will listen to our concerns and take them seriously. But doctors spend less time with patients of color and are less likely to prescribe pain medication for them. All of us should be able to decide for ourselves whether and when to start a family, and if now is not the right time to have a baby, people should have access to affordable birth control that works for them.

We need to come together across our differences to pass these budget items and ensure that everyone who has a baby, an abortion, or takes birth control has access to the health care they need.

For these reasons, I urge you to vote to end maternal mortality in the Commonwealth.

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