The Pregnancy Support Act is a bill that will provide comprehensive resources for pregnant women as well as supportive care to mother and infant after birth. This bill would authorize grants towards education to mothers and home visits by registered nurses, an increase in public awareness of the available resources for pregnant women, and additional funding to the WIC program to provide supplemental nutrition programs for women, infants, and children. The Pregnancy Support Act also provides funding for higher education of mothers and programs to help teen parents to complete high school. This bill would mandate that insurance companies could not deny coverage on the basis that a woman is pregnant and extend coverage to her unborn child. The Pregnant Women Support act will ensure that pregnant women receive optimum prenatal and postpartum care, education, and promote overall maternal and infant health.
The Pregnant Women Support Act is sponsored by U.S. Representative Lincoln Davis. Davis has been representing the 4th congressional district of Tennessee since 2002. Prior to this, Davis was Mayor of Byrdstown, TN from 1979 to 1983. From there, he went on to become a representative in the Tennessee State House of Representatives (1980-1984). Soon after, he was a member of the Tennessee State Senate (1996-2002). This bill has six cosponsors including Peter King (New York, republican), Dough Lamborn (Colorado, republican), James Langevin (Rhode Island, democrat), John Murtha (Pennsylvania, democrat), James Oberstar (Minnesota, democrat), and Mark Souder (Indiana, republican).
Pregnant Women Support Act was introduced to the House of Representatives on January 16, 2009. The bill was referred to the following committees: House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, House Education and Labor, House Agriculture, and House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry. This bill is still currently in these committees.
As an aspiring midwife, I think this bill is very important. I have a special interest in teen pregnancy and was delighted to hear that it includes support for teens to continue with their education. This is one of those bills where the savings will outweigh the costs in the end because in helping these teens complete their education they and their children will be at lower risk for many medical conditions and will also be more able to provide for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a very important bill to pass! Not only does it deal with present issues and help improve quality of life for currently pregnant individuals, but it also promotes something that’s frequently not addressed in our current healthcare system- prevention of disease. By providing funding for better nutrition for pregnant woman, this bill will help to prevent problems like spina bifida, a neural tube defect caused by a lack of Folic Acid in the pregnant woman’s diet. Providing this very simple intervention would greatly increase the quality of life of that infant.
ReplyDeleteBy providing funding to make sure pregnant woman are well fed and understand how to take care of themselves and their babies during pregnancy, this bill would decrease the number of children born with nutritional related problems. This would decrease the number of children needing medical interventions caused by impaired nutrition during pregnancy and increase the number of productive, healthy children being introduced into society.
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I'm quite frankly impressed by the fact that a male-dominated political system like the one in the U.S. would address an issue like this and put it into legislation but I'm glad it happened. Over the summer I worked on the Labor and Delivery floor and I don't know how many times I said out loud, "You ought to have to take a test to take a baby home with you." Because we would have young couples or single mothers come in to have there babies and be so uninformed and uneducated that they would think they were giving birth to aliens. And many of them lacked a stable support system so I think we need to establish that for them and prepare them for taking care of a baby before it's born. I mean we would have moms come in who would have their baby and the thought that they might need a child safety seat to take that baby home in never occurred to them. And once they got the safety seat they would have no idea how to install it in their vehicles. Now, of course there were mothers that were overprepared and had their child's wardrobe already arranged for kindergarten but a majority were so overwhelmed and unprepared that they had no idea what to do with their little "bundles of joy."
ReplyDeleteWe feel that this bill is very important for the overall health and well-being of new mothers and their babies. Giving birth in a hospital is an in and out process these days, which could leave mothers with stress and anxiety about how they will properly care for themselves and their new baby when they go home. Especially with teen mothers, the more education we provide new moms with, the better they will be able to care for their baby. By ensuring that prenatal and postpartum care are provided, new mothers will be able to minimize potential risks. It not only aims to improve the health care of a woman and her baby but will also help the issue of uninsured people in this country. It also may improve the disturbingly high infant mortality rate. In the United States we have a surprisingly high infant mortality rate compared to other industrialized countries, and this act may help decrease this terrible statistic.
ReplyDeleteOur group also thinks this is an important bill to pass. Providing prenatal care to mothers can greatly reduce the number of sick infants born due to the mother's lack of health care during the pregnancy. I worked in the neonatal intensive care unit this past summer and saw many babies who were born because the mother did not take good care of herself during her pregnancy. This is something that can be prevented or at least the number of occurrences reduced. Providing care after birth is also a great idea because many mothers are stressed or clueless after they go home. Having the extra resources to adjust to the changes in their life can be very important, especially if they might not have enough money or family support. The WIC program is amazing and can be very helpful to a family by providing food and formula needed for the mother and baby. The support to the teens is a very important aspect for before and after the birth of the child. Pregnant teens may not know where they can get the resources and support needed for the baby and themselves. They may delay getting prenatal because they have not told their parents and do not know how to afford the doctor visits. I also thinking finishing high school is much more achievable if they have additional support. This bill seems especially crucial in today's society, after working with the 4T program at Harrisonburg high school. A lot more girls are having unplanned pregnancies at such a young age and for all the reasons mentioned above this bill would greatly improve the lives of many babies and young families.
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