AMENDMENT NO. 406 Offered by Mr. Zeldin of New York

Floor Speech

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Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank chairman Smith for his inclusion in En Bloc Amendment No. 2 of my bipartisan amendment regarding efforts to reduce maternal mortality among servicewomen. I would like to thank Congressman Steve Stivers for joining me in this effort.

Our nation's overall maternal mortality rate is terrible, there is no way to sugar coat it. And we all know, that women of color suffer rates that are abysmally higher.

This amendment, which has been endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, will send a strong signal to the Defense Department that Congress supports and encourages the work it is already doing with CDC to establish an Maternal Mortality Review Committee or MMRC so that we can identify the causes of servicemembers' and their dependents' pregnancy-related deaths and act to prevent them.

As long as there are any maternal deaths occurring among our servicemembers and their dependents in the military, there is a distinct need for a Maternal Mortality Review Committee that will help dig deep into each maternal death and get the answers that can save other lives.

I remind my colleagues, that just in the last Congress, we enacted legislation into law that would strengthen the ability of States to form these committees comprised of experts in maternal health. Since then, MMRCs around the country have provided enlightening reports that are helping us understand the drivers of maternal mortality, racial inequities, and the most effective interventions to eliminate preventable maternal deaths.

And now its critical that we put this proven tool to work to help ensure safe pregnancies for servicemembers and their dependents.

Additionally, as this bill moves to conference, I hope that House and Senate conferees will including report language directing the Defense Department to provide a report to Congress on its efforts to establish a MMRC and whether that committee will meet established criteria that has proven effective, including being composed of a multidisciplinary group of experts including physicians, epidemiologists, and patient advocates, having strong confidentiality protections, and facilitating comprehensive and effective data sharing with relevant state maternal mortality review committees as well as federal state death data.

The goal is zero preventable maternal deaths. And it is going to require all of us working together to get there. An MMRC is just one more tool to get there. We are standing them and/or strengthening them in every state and now it's time to take this best practice and incorporate it in the military.

Every maternal death is a tragedy. If we can prevent them, we need to act to do so.

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