HLS 19RS-3694 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 294
BY REPRESENTATIVE JIMMY HARRIS
HEALTH CARE: Requests the Louisiana Department of Health to take immediate action
to address racial disparity in maternal and child health outcomes and the alarming
rate of mortality for African American infants and mothers in Louisiana
1 A RESOLUTION
2To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to take immediate action to address
3 racial disparity in maternal and child health outcomes and the alarming rate of
4 mortality for African American infants and mothers in Louisiana.
5 WHEREAS, the United States ranks thirty-two out of thirty-five of the world's
6wealthiest nations in infant mortality, and Louisiana has the fourth highest infant mortality
7rate in the country; and
8 WHEREAS, according to research by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, low
9birth weight is a significant factor in infant death and the number of low birth weight babies
10born in the United States is increasing at a rate greater than in other comparable countries,
11based largely on the unsettling data for African American infants; and
12 WHEREAS, African American infants are now more than twice as likely to die as
13white infants, with a death rate of eleven out of one thousand African American infants
14dying as compared to five out of every one thousand white infants, which results in more
15than four thousand unnecessarily lost African American infants each year; and
16 WHEREAS, based on a survey of United States government data, racial disparity in
17infant mortality rates is astonishingly wider now than in 1850, thirteen years before the
18signing of the Emancipation Proclamation; and
19 WHEREAS, the United States is one of only thirteen countries in the world where
20the rate of maternal mortality, the death of a woman related to pregnancy or childbirth, is
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HR NO. 294
1worse now than it was twenty-five years ago, with an estimated seven hundred to nine
2hundred maternal deaths annually; and
3 WHEREAS, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and
4Prevention, African American women are three to four times as likely to die from
5pregnancy-related causes as their white counterparts; and
6 WHEREAS, studies over the past twenty-five years show that education and income
7are not key determinants in this alarming trend as an African American woman with an
8advanced college degree is more likely to lose her baby than a white woman with less than
9an eighth-grade education; and
10 WHEREAS, recently there has been a growing acknowledgment among researchers
11and healthcare professionals that the debilitating effects of societal and systemic racism have
12created a toxic physiological stress for African American women, causing health problems
13such as hypertension and pre-eclampsia that directly lead to higher rates of infant and
14maternal death that are more reflective of the lived experience of race in this country as
15opposed to the genetics of race; and
16 WHEREAS, researchers have also indicated that there is a pervasive, longstanding
17racial bias in healthcare that results in the dismissal of legitimate concerns and symptoms
18of African American women during pregnancy which may result in misdiagnosis of
19conditions that can be fatal to the mother and infant; and
20 WHEREAS, national attention is now being given to the undeniable inequality and
21racial disparity in infant and maternal birth outcomes and Louisiana statistical data confirms
22that despite access to prenatal healthcare, African American infants in Louisiana are more
23than twice as likely to die as white infants, with more than twelve African American infant
24deaths per one thousand live births as compared to five white infant deaths per one thousand
25live births, the worst ranking in the United States; and
26 WHEREAS, these outcomes are utterly reprehensible and there is no time to waste
27studying this matter further as each day represents a chilling risk of losing yet another
28African American infant or mother in our state; and
29 WHEREAS, the current secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health, Dr.
30Rebekah Gee, is an obstetrician/gynecologist, and a trained policy expert who has served in
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HR NO. 294
1numerous state and national policy roles, and prior to being appointed secretary, came to
2Louisiana to serve as the director for the Birth Outcomes Initiative where she led the charge
3to reduce unnecessary early caesarian section births; and
4 WHEREAS, Secretary Gee is the ideal expert to take a leadership role in this matter
5and implement, through the many programs in her department, immediate and tangible
6initiatives to protect the lives of African American infants and mothers in Louisiana.
7 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
8Legislature of Louisiana does hereby request the Louisiana Department of Health to take
9immediate action to address racial disparity in maternal and child health outcomes and the
10alarming rate of mortality for African American infants and mothers in Louisiana.
11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Secretary Gee's medical and policy expertise,
12the expertise of the many offices under her authority, including the bureaus and divisions
13within the office of public health and Medicaid, and the countless contacts she has both
14locally, nationally, and internationally make her department the ideal agency leader to
15champion this effort.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department take immediate actions within
17its jurisdiction and control, through an organized effort of healthcare, community, and
18religious professionals, or through regulatory action considered appropriate, to implement
19measures to combat this crisis, including requiring healthcare professional diversity
20sensitivity training, increasing access to home visits and doulas, and any other measure
21considered appropriate.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that on or before August 1, 2019, the department
23submit a summary report to the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana
24identifying the immediate actions being taken to address mortality outcomes for
25African-American infants and mothers in Louisiana.
26 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that on or before October 1, 2019, the department
27host a summit on this matter to gather representatives from a vast network of expertise in
28one setting to ensure that proper attention is given to this crisis and to chart a pathway
29forward to save the lives of African American women and infants in Louisiana that can be
30used as a national and worldwide model of excellence.
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HR NO. 294
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that on or before December 31, 2019, the department
2submit a summit recommendation report to the House of Representatives of the Legislature
3of Louisiana identifying the long-term actions being proposed by summit participants to
4address mortality outcomes for African American infants and mothers in Louisiana.
5 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
6secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 294 Original 2019 Regular Session Jimmy Harris
Requests the Louisiana Department of Health to take immediate action to address racial
disparity in maternal and child health outcomes and the alarming rate of mortality for
African American infants and mothers in Louisiana and submit a summary report of
immediate actions on or before August 1, 2019.
Requests the department to host a summit on or before October 1, 2019, and submit a
summit recommendation report of long-term actions to address mortality outcomes for
African American infants and mothers in Louisiana to the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana on or before December 31, 2019.
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