Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act

Key Points

• The bill authorizes $190 million total for the CDC and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to collect data, run surveillance, and conduct research on how public health emergencies affect pregnant and postpartum people and their newborns.
• During public health emergencies, the government would be required to publish data at least monthly on how pregnant and postpartum people are affected, broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, language, geography, and socioeconomic status.
• A task force would be created to develop federal recommendations on respectful maternity care during emergencies, covering topics from telehealth access and doula coverage to mental health screening, substance use treatment, and strategies to address racism and bias in care delivery.
• The bill would fund regionally based centers of excellence focused on communities with high rates of maternal mortality and health disparities, and would expand the CDC's PRAMS survey to reach more underrepresented communities through a new electronic platform.
• The CDC would run public health education campaigns during emergencies to give pregnant and postpartum people, their employers, and their health care providers accurate, evidence-based information, with a special focus on reaching underserved communities.