The Texas Moms Matter Act- HB 11

The Texas Moms Matter Act (HB 11) will be heard before the Public Health Committee of the Texas Legislature this Wednesday beginning at 8:30 a.m. in committee room E2.012 (map linked below). State Representative Shawn Thierry and The Afiya Center will be hosting a press conference e addressing the maternal mortality crisis in Texas, specifically its impact on African American mothers.

We are asking that Texans take a stand and do something to protect the lives of our mothers! Stand with us with the following actions:
1) Come by the Capitol Wednesday to vote in support of HB 11 (instructions here: https://www.mytxlegis.legis.state.tx.us/hwrspublic/Video/HouseWitnessReg.mp4 ).

2) Stand with us at the press conference at 11 a.m. in support of legislatures taking the issue of maternal mortality, particularly the devastating disparities impacting Black mothers, seriously!

3) If you can’t make it, call your State Representative and Senator demanding that they support HB 11 and get it voted out of committee! Find the contact information for your elected official here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx

Texas Moms Matter Act:
The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force is a multi-disciplinary task force created within the Department of State Health Services to review cases of pregnancy-related deaths and trends in severe maternal morbidity. In 2016, they shared their findings with the Legislature and revealed that African American women are disproportionally at risk of maternal death.
Additionally, African American women accounted for just 11.4% of all births in 2011-2012, but accounted for 28.8% of all maternal deaths. HB 11 is a comprehensive piece of legislation authored to tackle many aspects of our current maternal mortality crisis in Texas.

Texas Capitol Map: http://www.bcm.edu/pathimmuno/index.cfm?PMID=14240