The Georgia House Democratic Caucus, led by the group’s secretary, Park Cannon, will hold a statewide public hearing on maternal mortality Thursday.
The in-person hearing runs from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and will be held in room 606 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building in Atlanta.
The group is seeking effective policy solutions to improve best practices to improve health outcomes and decrease maternal mortality in the state.
“The 2023 Medicaid redetermination process was disproportionately impactful to the same Georgians who are on the maternal mortality pipeline,” Cannon said. “For this reason and more, the Maternal Mortality committee was created, and we invite you to attend, amplify and testify on your solutions.”
Joining Cannon at the forum will be Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Rep. Karen Bennett and Reps. Terry Cummings, Saira Draper, Lydia Glaize, Karen Lupton, Ruwa Romman, Kim Schofield and Allen Westbrook.
Members of the public are invited. Lawmakers have begun requesting supporting documents addressing maternal mortality in Georgia. Documents must be submitted by the end of Thursday. Suggested items include things like annual reports and fact sheets.
The Georgia Department of Health’s most recent Maternal Mortality Report in July found the state had 30 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births from 2018 to 2020, up from 25 in the two years spanning 2015 through 2017 and, according to an Axios analysis, the state’s maternal mortality rate more than doubled between 1999 and 2020.
A BMC Public Health report in March analyzing maternal health equity in Georgia found the state “has one of the highest maternal mortality rates” at “almost twice the national rate.” It further identified inequities within maternal mortality rates, including that non-Hispanic Black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their non-Hispanic white women counterparts.
