HR 426: General Assembly; support creation of a Black Maternal Health Caucus; urge

This resolution does not change any Georgia law. Instead, it expresses the House of Representatives' position, urging the full General Assembly to establish a legislative Black Maternal Health Caucus, a group of lawmakers who would organize around the state's maternal health crisis. The resolution lays out statistics on maternal and infant mortality in the United States and Georgia, noting that Georgia's maternal mortality rate is nearly twice the national average and that Black women in Georgia are almost three times more likely to die of pregnancy related causes than non-Hispanic white women. It cites hospital labor and delivery closures, maternity care deserts, chronic health conditions, and the benefits of doula care as context. The resolution directs the Clerk of the House to distribute copies to the public and press, but it creates no funding, program, or legal requirement on its own.

• Urges the General Assembly to create a Georgia legislative Black Maternal Health Caucus to focus on maternal health policy.
• States the caucus would serve as a coalition of lawmakers to raise awareness of maternal health disparities affecting Black women.
• Directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to distribute copies of the resolution to the public and press.
• Does not itself establish the caucus, allocate funding, or change any Georgia statute; it is a nonbinding expression of support.

The resolution primarily concerns members of the Georgia General Assembly, who are urged to form the caucus. It also references Black pregnant and postpartum women, infants, rural hospitals facing labor and delivery closures, and the Georgia Department of Public Health as stakeholders in the maternal health issues described.

If the General Assembly follows through, a dedicated caucus could give lawmakers a formal venue to research and propose policies addressing Georgia's high maternal mortality rate and racial disparities in maternal outcomes. On its own, though, the resolution creates no new programs, funding, or legal obligations.

• The resolving clause urges the General Assembly to create a Georgia legislative Black Maternal Health Caucus focused on the state's maternal health crisis and disparities.
• A further resolution clause directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make copies available to the public and press.
• The whereas clauses cite statistics on U.S. and Georgia maternal and infant mortality, racial disparities, maternity care deserts, and the benefits of doula care as the basis for the request.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (House)

• Kim Schofield (D, HD-63)Primary sponsor
• Derrick Jackson (D, HD-68)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-87)
• Park Cannon (D, HD-58)
• Rhonda Burnough (D, HD-77)
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-76)

• maternal health
• Black maternal health
• health disparities
• reproductive health policy
• legislative caucuses