U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine will participate in a discussion on Friday with local stakeholders, hosted by Our Health, a local non-profit committed to supporting and expanding access to health and human services in the Winchester area.
The discussion will be focused on addressing racial and geographic disparities in maternal health, specifically highlighting the challenges African-American women, infants, and families face during pregnancy and into the first year after birth. Kaine will discuss the Mothers and Newborns Success Act, bipartisan legislation he introduced in July to tackle racial and geographic inequities in maternal and infant mortality by strengthening support for women during and after their pregnancies.
Kaine has long focused his efforts on addressing the Black maternal health crisis. The Mothers and Newborns Success Act would support innovation in maternal health care delivery, improve research and data collection on maternal health, and ensure women are better matched with birthing facilities that meet their specific needs.
The senator has also hosted several roundtables on the topic over the past year in Hampton, Oakton, and Lynchburg, and he has cosponsored Senator Harris’s Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act to create two new grant programs focused on reducing racial disparities in maternal health.