KOLKHORST AUTHORS MATERNAL MORTALITY BILL IN SPECIAL SESSION

  

State Senator Lois W. Kolkhorst of Brenham has authored Senate Bill 17 to extend the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force and other policies to improve maternal health in Texas.

Sen. Lois W. Kolkhorst

This legislation is one of 20 items that Governor Greg Abbott previously announced to be addressed on the special session agenda.

Kolkhorst says, “our state is working hard to collect, analyze and address the top causes, but there is so much more to do.”

She says she looks forward to collaborating with fellow lawmakers in a bipartisan effort to bring Texas to the forefront of solving the challenge of pregnancy-related deaths and maternal health.

Senate Bill 17 will expand the work and role of the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force. The legislation also requires the Health and Human Services Commission and the Department of State Health Services to develop strategies for addressing the top causes of maternal mortality.

The bill also requires the Commssion to identify ways to lower costs and improve maternal health in the Medicaid program.

Governor Greg Abbott has praised Senator Kolkhorst for her leadership on this issue.

“Pregnancy-related deaths are a devastating tragedy that leave many Texas families broken,” said Governor Abbott. "That is why extending the maternal mortality task force to find solutions is of vital importance this special session. I am grateful to Senator Kolkhorst, Rep. Burkett, Rep. Thierry and Rep. Walle for leading the charge in the legislature, and am confident that with their leadership, we can begin taking the necessary steps to address this pressing issue and further protect women in Texas."

 

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6 Comments

  1. Tha Texas Dept. if Health does not already play a role in recording maternal mortality issues for research? Have we entered into an age that we have to pass bills on even obvious job duties that our government has been or should be performing?

    1. The role of the government in this case is to go study why Texas has among the highest rate of maternal mortality in the nation. Question is if you care about why so many mothers and infants are dying in Texas? I do and so does Senator Kolkhorst so in my opinion it is a good bill to file and support for all Texas families.

      1. Let me save the taxpayers a couple million dollars, and save these hardworking legislators from distracting, unnecessary meetings, by pointing out the strong positive correlation between the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Texas and the suddenly sky-rocketing maternal mortality rate. This correlation has to date only been noticed by, like, the whole rest of the U.S., but we here in Texas are content to pretend to be mystified by why this is suddenly an issue, and mollified that our duly elected representatives will ‘fix it,’ just like they ‘fixed it’ when they created the problem in the first place. And the irony of adding the additional task of ‘identifying ways of lowering costs while improving maternal health’ is just too rich.

        1. WRONG!
          This has everything to do with getting a better understanding of the poor overall health of the mother (many have complications because they’re fat), access to care because their free medical care (Medicaid) ran out after two months from delivery (don’t you wonder what that population is comprised of?), and drugs.

          One likely reason for the increase is from a high increase in our illegal alien population in Texas that former liberal President thought was a great idea. Sure would like to know %’s of THC in the blood as well.

          1. Mom who almost died in childbirth here due to postpartum HELLP syndrome and hemorrhage. I had no health problems and was a normal weight before pregnancy/delivery (but thanks for assuming that I am overweight). I can tell you exactly what’s wrong with our women’s health system. My symptoms were ignored until I was almost dead (extreme swelling, gaining 5 lbs a week at the end of pregnancy due to swelling, upper right quadrant pain from my swelling liver). When my liver ruptured after delivery and I was hemorrhaging to death, my medical team struggled to locate life saving blood transfusion supplies. My recommendations: take symptoms seriously, treat women displaying symptoms as if they are sick and need treatment immediately, and have blood hemorrhage supplies ready in every labor delivery and recovery room. These practices have been implemented in Great Britain and California and have seen great success. It’s not rocket science.

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