Black Maternal Health Week is a reminder that so many households expertise ache, neglect, and loss throughout what must be one of the crucial joyous instances of their lives.  It is an pressing name for motion.  Black girls in America are thrice extra prone to die from pregnancy-related issues than white girls.  This is on prime of the truth that girls in America are dying at the next charge from pregnancy-related causes than in some other developed nation. 

     Tackling this disaster begins with understanding how institutional racism drives these excessive maternal mortality charges.  Studies present that Black girls are sometimes dismissed or ignored in hospitals and different well being care settings, whilst they undergo from extreme accidents and being pregnant issues and ask for assist.  Systemic inequities are additionally responsible.  When moms should not have entry to secure and secure housing earlier than and after childbirth, they’re at higher danger of falling sick.  When girls face obstacles touring to the hospital for prenatal and postpartum checkups, they’re much less prone to stay wholesome.  Air air pollution, water air pollution, and lead pipes can have harmful penalties for pregnant girls and newborns.  And when households can’t afford nutritious meals, they face worse well being outcomes. 

     That is why my Administration wrote the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, which lays out particular actions that the Federal Government will take to enhance maternal well being, and secured funding from the Congress to assist implement it.  Vice President Kamala Harris has been a pacesetter on the difficulty of maternal mortality for years and led the cost to enhance maternal well being outcomes, together with by issuing a name to motion to deal with disparities in maternal care.  She continues to raise the difficulty nationally, convening State legislators, medical professionals, and others so all moms can entry the care they want earlier than, throughout, and after childbirth.

     Additionally, my American Rescue Plan gave States the choice to offer a full yr of postpartum protection to Medicaid beneficiaries — up from simply 60 days of protection.  As a outcome, my Administration has accepted requests from 30 States and Washington, D.C. to offer girls with Medicaid protection with a full yr of postpartum protection, and we’ve made this feature everlasting for each State that extends Medicaid postpartum protection.  My Administration has helped facilitate Medicaid growth in 4 States since I took workplace, and I proceed to name on the Congress to shut the Medicaid protection hole. We are additionally working to develop and diversify the maternal well being workforce, serving to well being care suppliers rent and practice numerous and culturally-competent physicians, licensed nurse midwives, doulas, and neighborhood well being employees to assist girls throughout being pregnant, supply, and postpartum care.  My American Rescue Plan included historic investments in our well being workforce, and my Budget consists of $471 million to cut back maternal mortality and morbidity charges — enhancing entry to care in rural communities, increasing implicit bias coaching for well being care suppliers, and additional supporting the perinatal well being workforce.

     Because anticipating moms should know the place to seek out the perfect care, the Department of Health and Human Services created a brand new “Birthing Friendly” hospital designation, a public-facing recognition of the standard and security of maternity care which shall be publicly reported on the Care Compare web site starting this Fall.  My Administration is dedicated to implementing the No Surprises Act, which helps make sure that girls are shielded from sure surprising out-of-network medical payments that may come up throughout being pregnant, postpartum care, and supply.

     One in 5 girls in America expertise maternal psychological well being circumstances like postpartum melancholy, nervousness, or substance use dysfunction, so we launched the Maternal Mental Health Hotline.  By calling 1-833-9-HELP4MOMS — a confidential, 24-hour, toll-free quantity — new and anticipating mothers can now join with skilled counselors.  We are additionally supporting and increasing maternal psychological well being screening packages, together with for postpartum melancholy.  My Administration can also be partnering with community-based organizations to assist pregnant individuals entry dependancy companies and work with professionals educated in treating substance use dysfunction.

     We are defending the job safety and office rights of pregnant and nursing moms — together with Black girls, who usually tend to be fired, stop, or be pressured to return to work after giving beginning earlier than it’s wholesome for them to take action.  Over the previous 2 years, I signed laws to make sure employers make cheap lodging for pregnant employees and job candidates, develop using break time and entry to personal areas for tens of millions of nursing dad and mom, and examine the distinctive maternal well being challenges dealing with veterans and assist guarantee they get the standard well being care they deserve via the Department of Veterans Affairs.

     At the identical time, my Administration is utilizing the facility of the Federal Government to deal with the long-standing disparities that Black communities proceed to face — disparities that instantly affect the well being and well-being of Black moms.  During the peak of the COVID-19 disaster, my Administration offered aid to hardworking households, chopping the speed of poverty for Black Americans by almost a 3rd.  We are additionally confronting racial discrimination in housing; increasing public transit to each neighborhood within the nation; enhancing entry to reasonably priced and wholesome meals via our National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health; and tackling harmful environmental injustices which have hit communities of shade the toughest. 

     This week, as we proceed our work to make being pregnant and childbirth secure, dignified, and joyful for all, allow us to do not forget that well being care must be a proper and never a privilege.  Let us give because of the extraordinary maternal well being care workforce, which serves its sufferers and their households day-after-day.  And allow us to take part widespread trigger to finish the tragedy of maternal mortality as soon as and for all.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by advantage of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the legal guidelines of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 11 via April 17, 2023, as Black Maternal Health Week.  I name upon all Americans to boost consciousness of the state of Black maternal well being within the United States by understanding the results of institutional racism; recognizing the scope of this downside and the necessity for pressing options; amplifying the voices and experiences of Black girls, households, and communities; and committing to constructing a world through which Black girls should not have to worry for his or her security, their well-being, their dignity, or their lives earlier than, throughout, and after being pregnant.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I’ve hereunto set my hand this
tenth day of April, within the yr of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 2 hundred and forty-seventh.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.