In 2025, Black mamas deserve better. We deserve to be heard and cared for by our health systems. We deserve to be mamas without losing our life in the midst of a maternal health crisis. We deserve to be believed after years of crisis. We deserve accessible, affordable and high-quality health care. We deserve to be mamas without fearing for our child’s safety.
Like far too many Black mamas, both of us experienced serious complications during childbirth — experiences that were far from the smooth, joyful moments we had hoped for. Rather than being able to bond with our newborn sons, we were confronted with dangerous spikes in blood pressure that put our lives at risk.
So often, harmful stereotypes against Black women are weaponized to blame us when we experience pregnancy complications. While there are external factors that can impact the quality of health care we receive, the truth is that Black women are facing a maternal health crisis that cuts across socioeconomic lines. It doesn’t matter that both of us had college degrees, well-paying jobs and access to prenatal care — we still experienced deeply terrifying, life threatening health outcomes.
In the end, we were extremely fortunate that our doctors caught the complications in time, but unfortunately that is not the case for so many others.
Georgia is facing a maternal mortality crisis — one of the worst in the nation — and Black women bear the brunt of its impact, earning the state a failing grade by March of Dimes. More Black women die within one year of childbirth here in Georgia than in some developing countries around the globe.
This is more than a statistic, it’s a devastating truth for too many families. One in 10 Georgians knows someone who has died during pregnancy, and in 2020, over 80% of maternal deaths were considered preventable.
These disparities in maternal health are only exacerbated by the Trump administration’s all-out assault on our country’s public health. The massive cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services and CDC (the very agencies that provide the critical data on this crisis), along with NIH funding pauses, and the decision to slash Medicaid by $880 billion, reflect a dangerous lack of urgency and will only worsen the Black maternal health crisis.
We’re already seeing the consequences of these cuts — the CDC recently eliminated the division dedicated to maternal health research and IVF, and universities have already warned how NIH funding pauses will decimate their research capacity.
The stakes are even higher when you consider that over 40% of births and two-thirds of Black births in the United States are covered under Medicaid. The passed budget resolution instructs the House Energy & Commerce Committee (E&C) to reduce the federal deficit by at least $880 billion over 10 years. While Medicaid is not explicitly mentioned in the legislation, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that the planned budget reductions cannot be achieved without cuts to Medicaid. This will disproportionately harm our communities, stripping away essential care from those who need it most.
This crisis calls for bold, immediate and comprehensive action. That’s why we are pushing for policy solutions rooted in Reproductive Justice — the all-encompassing framework founded by Black women over 30 years ago that centers the human right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work and our reproduction. In that spirit, we are mobilizing behind multiple pieces of legislation to protect and advance maternal health in Georgia and nationwide. For example, the introduction of the Advancing Maternal Health Equity Under Medicaid Act incentivizes states to increase their spending on maternal health services under Medicaid by increasing the federal reimbursement rate for states that do so.
We are also calling for support of the soon to be introduced Maternal Education Investment Act, legislation that creates a targeted grant program for maternal/fetal medicine training for health care providers who work in and around maternal medicine. This would include the prioritization of funding for maternal-fetal fellowships as well as broader training regarding the integration of maternal training into primary care. Maternal-Fetal Specialists, who have been shown to correlate with lower rates of maternal mortality are key to addressing the maternal health care shortage many communities face.
There is also an urgent need to introduce and pass the Momnibus Act this Congress — 13 bills that would make historic investments to comprehensively address the maternal health crisis. One of these bills, The Tech to Save Moms Act, invests in evidence-based digital tools to reduce maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, and maternal health disparities — particularly in rural and underserved communities where access to care is too often out of reach.
These bills are steps toward addressing this crisis and providing equitable and accessible health care that every mama in the Fighting Fifth, across Georgia, and throughout the country deserves.
Every Black mama we’ve lost to pregnancy-related complications deserved more — more care, more respect, more attention and more action. Their legacy demands that we speak out, show up and fight back. We do not have the luxury of silence.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: Regina Davis Moss/contributed
Credit: Regina Davis Moss/contributed
Congresswoman Nikema Williams is a Democrat serving as the representative for Georgia’s 5th congressional district.
Dr. Regina Davis Moss is president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, a national-state partnership focused on advancing Reproductive Justice policies at the state and federal levels, and In Our Own Voice Action Fund.
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