Federal legislation aimed at reform highlighted during Black Maternal Health Week

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

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Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

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Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

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April 16, 2025

From Tashi McQueen, The Afro

Lawmakers acknowledge Black Maternal Health Week and highlight top legislation from the 119th Congress that aim to improve maternal health care in America. U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) expressed concern over federal restructuring efforts and affirmed her commitment to expanding access to care for pregnant women. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Black Maternal Health Week, which began on April 11, comes to a close on April 17, as legislators work to improve maternal health.

According to Black Mamas Matter Alliance, the creators of Black Maternal Health Week, in 2023, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births—about 3.5 times the rate for White women.

In the U.S., Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related issue than White women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths are considered preventable.

A few key federal legislative initiatives supporting Black maternal health that Americans should know about include S.687, H.R.1909, H.R.1966 and

Read more on The Afro.

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Learn more about Black Maternal Health.

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