WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Cory Booker, D-NJ, recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation to provide sustained funding for a maternal care and research program.
The NIH IMPROVE Act would provide $73.4 million annually for the next seven years for the National Institutes of Health’s IMPROVE Initiative that supports research to reduce the maternal mortality rate and improve outcomes for women in all stages of pregnancy.
“This bipartisan legislation will support targeted funding for critical research to improve health outcomes for women throughout their pregnancy journey,” Britt said in a statement. “I’m committed to ensuring the NIH remains the gold standard of research and provides solutions to improve health outcomes for women before, during, and after pregnancy.”
In 2019, the NIH launched the program in response to high rates of pregnancy-related complications in the United States. While the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. has leveled out since the pandemic, it still ranks among the highest for comparable countries. In 2023, there were 18.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the U.S., according to the March of Dimes.
Alabama ranks among the worst in the country, with 35.1 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 births in 2023. The state’s preterm birth rate in 2024 was ranked as an F by the March of Dimes this month and ranks 49th out of the 50 states and D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Racial disparities persist in pregnancy-related deaths and complications. Across the country, there were 33 more maternal deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic Black people compared to non-Hispanic white people in 2023, according to the Commonwealth Fund.
“This bipartisan legislation expands research and strengthens data collection so we can better understand how to save lives and close long-standing disparities in care,” Booker said in a statement.
The money authorized in the bill would help keep the IMPROVE Initiative functioning, which currently lacks a sustained funding source. The money would go toward research focused on the causes of maternal mortality and addressing the disparities.
The funds would also be directed toward improving outcomes in maternal care deserts. A third of counties in Alabama are maternal care deserts, according to 2023 data from the March of Dimes.
Reps. Lauren Underwood, D-IL, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-PA, introduced the House version of the bill.
“Since 2019, IMPROVE has invested more than $200 million in life-saving research that will help end our nation’s maternal health crisis,” Underwood said. “Our bipartisan NIH IMPROVE Act will advance maternal health research by permanently authorizing funding for IMPROVE, making sure that NIH can continue this critical work.”
Alabama’s infant mortality rate sits at 7.6 deaths per 1,000 births, which ranks among the third highest in the country, according to the March of Dimes. The rate of infant deaths among Black babies decreased in 2024 to 11.4, but remains higher than the rate of white babies, 5.4.
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