Some experts believe Kamala Harris could help highlight and work to improve the nation's maternal mortality crisis, as reported by The 19th News.
Ms. Harris, a California senator and the nation's first nonwhite woman to run as part of a major party presidential ticket, highlighted maternal health — specifically for Black Americans — early on in the 2020 Democratic primary. She is currently calling for investments to address the crisis, which has left Black women three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women. In March, she and other members of the Black Maternal Health Caucus introduced the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, which would invest in social determinants of health, community-based organizations, and the growth and diversification of the perinatal workforce.
"She has been one of the strongest and most consistent and loudest voices to address this issue, and to address it from a perspective that digs into the issues that addresses structural racism," Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, vice president for health justice at the National Partnership for Women and Families, said about Ms. Harris.
If elected, it's uncertain what responsibilities Ms. Harris would oversee. Presumptive Democractic nominee for president Joe Biden has outlined a possible response to the maternal mortality crisis that replicates strategies used in California, the only state where maternal death rates fell between 2006 and 2013.
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