Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1318, the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act.

Unfortunately, we know all too well in Georgia the need to address maternal mortality rates in the Nation. My home State of Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and we learned about the challenges leading to this statistic on September 27 in the Energy and Commerce Committee when we were able to hear from my colleague and the sponsor of the bill, Congresswoman Herrera Beutler.

As my colleague noted in the hearing, we are seeing an estimated number of between 700 and 900 maternal deaths per year, a number that is unacceptable in today's world. A 2015 World Health Organization report noted that nearly half of these deaths were preventable.

From 1987 to 2009, the number of pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 births nearly doubled. That is why this legislation is so important.

Whether it is updates to maternal mortality data collection or mental treatment options, or the reforms and changes for the maternal mortality review committees, this legislation is necessary to helping us curb this trend and reduce the number of maternal mortality deaths.

We can and we should do more, and I hope that this will be one of our many steps to help us save the lives of mothers across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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