Posted: | December 7, 2022 09:34 AM |
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From: | Senator Judith L. Schwank |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Maternal Morbidity |
In the near future, I plan on reintroducing SB358 from last session. This legislation would add “severe maternal morbidity” to the list of reportable events within the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Severe maternal morbidity is a category of health conditions that complicate pregnancy, including unexpected outcomes of labor delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman’s health. In 2014, maternal morbidity affected 50,000 women in the United States and has been steadily increasing since that time. This bill would categorize maternal deaths and severe maternal morbidity complications as reportable events. The Maternal Mortality Review Committee would submit a report including each reportable event to the department. Accurate and regular tracking of data is essential for the comprehensive research on maternal mortality in the Commonwealth. I hope that you will join me in sponsoring this important legislation. This legislation is a companion bill to HB 1174 of 2021-22, sponsored by Rep. Morgan Cephas. Previous co-sponsors were Senators Costa, Hughes, Fontana, Kearney, Street, Collett, Santarsiero, Tartaglione, Brewster, Boscola, Kane, Muth, Cappelletti, Flynn, Comitta, and L. Williams. |
Introduced as SB262