S. 2239 118th Congress Senate

Kira Johnson Act

Official title: A bill to prevent maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity among Black pregnant and postpartum individuals and other underserved populations, to provide training in respectful maternity care, to reduce and prevent bias, racism, and discrimination in maternity care settings, and for other purposes.

Introduced: July 11, 2023 Introduced by: Raphael G. Warnock Democratic · Georgia See on congress.gov

Health

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Jul 11, 2023

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Jul 11, 2023

Introduced in Senate

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Latest action July 11, 2023

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Kira Johnson Act

This bill establishes various grants for establishing or expanding programs to advance maternal health equity.

Specifically, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must award grants for

community-based programs to improve maternal health outcomes for demographic groups with elevated rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, maternal health disparities, and other adverse outcomes;
training for health care providers and others who work in maternity care settings on reducing and preventing racism, bias, and discrimination; and
programs in hospitals, health systems, and other maternity care settings to establish processes to identify and address instances of racism or evidence of bias in maternity care (i.e., respectful maternity care compliance programs).

HHS must contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study issues related to the training programs, and the Government Accountability Office must study issues related to the respectful maternity care compliance programs.

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