OAN Newsroom
8:03 PM PT — Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018
The House passes a bipartisan bill to help tackle the maternal mortality crisis sweeping the United States.
The legislation approved Tuesday marks the strongest measure taken to reverse the problem. The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed countries, with 26 deaths per 100,000 births.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says up to 60-percent of those deaths are preventable.
As a result, the new bill looks to support state level efforts to track and investigate pregnancy-related deaths.
Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler says the legislation will allow states to “strengthen and establish Maternal Mortality Review Committee’s,” and added “we’re going to investigate every single one [death] because moms are worth it.”
It’s not clear when, or it, the Senate will vote on its companion bill despite it being pass out of committee earlier this year.
