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