{"id":8382,"date":"2026-01-02T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/missouri-lawmakers-hope-2026-is-the-year-maternal-and-infant-health-get-the-spotlight\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T06:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:00:18","slug":"missouri-lawmakers-hope-2026-is-the-year-maternal-and-infant-health-get-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/missouri-lawmakers-hope-2026-is-the-year-maternal-and-infant-health-get-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri lawmakers hope 2026 is the year maternal and infant health get the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A handful of Missouri lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would help improve maternal and infant health outcomes (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images).<\/p>\n

Missouri has <\/span>some of the worst rates for maternal and infant mortality <\/span><\/a>in the country. This isn\u2019t old news. Nor are the solutions that lawmakers like <\/span>state Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, a St. Louis Democrat, continue to propose in the hopes of finally getting more people to pay attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

The numbers should raise alarms for Missouriians in every corner of the state, Bosley said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can only imagine how fearful I\u2019d be to have a child in this state knowing what I know statistically. And I know that is very true for other women who are not just in the urban areas but are in rural communities that <\/span>don\u2019t have access to a hospital within 20-plus miles<\/span><\/a>, or even an urgent care, or anything,\u201d Bosley said. \u201cAnd that right there is where we should be putting a lot of our focus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bosley, who is entering her eighth and final legislative session in the Missouri House, said she hopes to finally push through legislation that better addresses the state\u2019s birth outcomes. She is among the only lawmakers so far to pre-file multiple legislative fixes to better study and prevent infant and maternal deaths.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a state that claims to love our children and want to put our children in the best outcomes to succeed in life,\u201d Bosley said. \u201cAnd the only way that I know how to do that is to start at the beginning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
State Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis, raises her hand to ask a question during the House Elections Committee hearing in September 2025 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On average, 70 women die each year in Missouri during childbirth or in the first year postpartum. Of those deaths, <\/span>80% are deemed preventable. <\/span><\/a>Cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions were among the main causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the state.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Missouri\u2019s Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review board dissects the causes of death in each case, aiming to identify preventable situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bosley is hoping to pass legislation that would establish a similar board to <\/span>track and study infant deaths in the state, <\/span><\/a>as well as fund grief counseling for family members who lost a child during childbirth or shortly after. The same bill would also expand the maternal mortality board to also study and address the socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, including global warming, on pregnancy outcomes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the state\u2019s infant mortality rate improved slightly from 2022 to the latest 2023 data, 441 babies still died before they turned 1 year old in Missouri in 2023, putting the state 33rd in the nation for infant deaths. Black infants are dying at twice the rate of white infants. The leading causes of death for infants in Missouri were birth defects, preterm birth, sudden unexpected infant death and accidents, according to a<\/span> recent report from the March of Dimes.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem here is not only is this a lack of access issue, this is also a social economic issue,\u201d Bosley said. \u201cMost women who live in very poor communities in rural Missouri and also women of color typically have greater health risk and lower health outcomes. That goes back to systemic bias at how the health care system came to be.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

State Sen. Barbara Washington, a Democrat from Kansas City, who is also pushing for the <\/span>expansion of doula services<\/span><\/a>, is hoping to <\/span>further expand the state\u2019s maternal mortality review board<\/span><\/a> to include more diverse statewide representation. Her legislation would also add data on prenatal and postnatal health care access to the data collected by the board.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta do something,\u201d Washington said. \u201c \u2026 People that English isn\u2019t their first language and women of color, and women who are poor, especially Medicaid recipients, they\u2019re not treated with the same level of respect. I\u2019m not sure if any woman is, to be honest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
State Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City, speaks during a legislative hearing in January 2025 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not long ago in Missouri, women on Medicaid were seven times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy<\/span><\/a> than women on private insurance, according to a report by the state\u2019s Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review studying deaths from 2017 to 2021. Black mothers in that time frame were 2.5 times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white mothers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These outcomes prompted lawmakers to <\/span>expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers<\/span><\/a> from 60 days to one year postpartum.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Bosley\u2019s bills seeks to <\/span>include coverage for doula services<\/span><\/a> for up to one year through the state\u2019s Medicaid program, called MO HealthNet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doulas \u2014 who offer support for families during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, but do not deliver babies \u2014 have been lifted up as one solution to improving maternal and infant health outcomes, especially among low-income families and families of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, in an effort to address this, the state issued<\/span> an emergency rule allowing doulas to be reimbursed through Medicaid<\/span><\/a>. That rule has since expired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bosley also reintroduced a bill seeking to create the <\/span>\u201cMissouri Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act,\u201d <\/span><\/a>which would establish an evidence-based implicit bias program for perinatal health providers at all Missouri hospitals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll ever get rid of bias, unfortunately, but we can at least have a conversation so people can start to be conscious about certain thoughts,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She made note of a recent case in <\/span>Indiana<\/span><\/a> where a Black woman in active labor was turned away from a hospital and gave birth a short time later in a truck. She also noted the recent charges against a Virginia nurse <\/span>accused of intentionally injuring at least one baby in the NICU.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something in the 1800s when we didn\u2019t have technology that we have now,\u201d Bosley said. \u201cThese are real-life stories that are happening in the 21st century.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another bill would <\/span>make childbirth classes free <\/span><\/a>for expectant mothers enrolled in the state\u2019s Medicaid program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Undocumented mothers in Missouri navigate pregnancy, postpartum as ICE threats loom<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rose Anderson-Rice, CEO of Generate Health, a St. Louis nonprofit that works to create more equitable maternal and infant health outcomes, particularly for families of color, said legislative fixes such as expandingMedicaid eligibility can be really impactful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She hopes to see lawmakers and community leaders focus on growing and diversifying the perinatal workforce, invest in addressing social determinants of health, fund community-based organizations that work with moms and babies, and improve access to maternal health care for families who are both underserved and under-represented.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson-Rice pays particular attention to the state\u2019s infant mortality rates, thinking of the classrooms full of children lost, whose futures \u2014 perhaps as doctors, athletes, parents \u2014\u00a0will never be realized.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPublic health professionals often liken infant mortality to the canary in the coal mine- it\u2019s an indicator on the health of the community,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not about politics; it\u2019s about responsibility. If we want a healthy Missouri, we need to fix this now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A handful of Missouri lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would help improve maternal and infant health outcomes (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images). Missouri has some of the worst rates for maternal and infant mortality in the country. This isn\u2019t old news. Nor are the solutions that lawmakers like state Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, a St. Louis Democrat,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri lawmakers hope 2026 is the year maternal and infant health get the spotlight - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/02\/missouri-lawmakers-hope-2026-is-the-year-maternal-and-infant-health-get-the-spotlight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri lawmakers hope 2026 is the year maternal and infant health get the spotlight - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A handful of Missouri lawmakers are pushing for legislation that would help improve maternal and infant health outcomes (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images). 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Missouri has some of the worst rates for maternal and infant mortality in the country. This isn\u2019t old news. Nor are the solutions that lawmakers like state Rep. 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