Two University of Chicago Medicine physicians joined U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Illinois) to announce the reintroduction of legislation to help lower America’s rising maternal and infant mortality rates as well as reduce racial disparities in health outcomes.
Sarosh Rana, MD, chief of maternal-fetal medicine, and John M. Cunningham, MD, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Comer Children’s Hospital, spoke at a March 18 news conference to discuss the Mothers and Offspring Mortality and Morbidity Awareness (MOMMA) Act. The measure, which will be formally introduced by Kelly and Durbin in the House and Senate next week, aims to improve care women receive before, during and after pregnancy.
“New mothers deserve to spend those first days, weeks and months bonding with their newborns, not fighting for their lives,” said Rana, who is also an active researcher in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, such as preeclampsia. “It’s a complex problem with no easy or singular solution. That’s why I am so supportive of this federal legislation – because it deals with a number of factors that ultimately lead to a reduction of this excess maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States.”