Maternal Health Pandemic Response Act
May 18, 2026
Introduced: May 18, 2026
May 18, 2026
Introduced: May 18, 2026
Summary
Provides money to study how health emergencies affect mothers and babies, with a focus on helping minority groups and improving care.
What problem does this solve?
Public health crises create unique risks for pregnant people, but good information to address these problems, especially for minority groups, is often missing. This bill gives money to collect data and create new guidelines to improve care for mothers and babies during emergencies.
What does this bill do?
Reference
Text:
Section:
Sec. 2
Header:
Funding for data collection, surveillance, and research on maternal health
Authorizes $190 million for maternal health programs
Provides $100M for the Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies program, $30M for the ERASE MM program, $45M for the PRAMS survey, and $15M for research.
Mandates public data on maternal health
Requires the CDC to make data on maternal health outcomes during public health emergencies publicly available on its website.
Requires data to be broken down by demographics
Ensures that all collected data is separated by race, ethnicity, gender, primary language, and other factors to identify disparities.
Establishes a maternity care task force
Creates a task force to develop federal recommendations for safe and respectful maternity care during public health emergencies.
Protects patient privacy
Requires that all collected data be de-identified and handled in a way that protects individual privacy under existing laws like HIPAA.
Reference
Text:
Section:
Sec. 4
Header:
Public health communication regarding maternal care during public health
Launches public education campaigns
Directs the CDC to run campaigns to give accurate information about maternal health risks to pregnant people, employers, and doctors during emergencies.
Who does this affect?
- Pregnant and postpartum individuals
- Maternal healthcare providers
- State, Tribal, and local public health departments
What is the real world impact?
•
Improves maternal health data
Addresses the lack of specific data on how public health emergencies affect pregnant and postpartum people, especially in communities of color. Better data can lead to better health guidance and outcomes.
•
Promotes health equity
Focuses on collecting data by race and ethnicity to highlight and address differences in maternal healthcare. Aims to ensure care is fair and equal for everyone, regardless of their background.
When does this start?
The bill's provisions would become effective after it is signed into law, with several specific deadlines for government agencies.
Guidance to states
Within 30 days of a public health emergency, the Secretary of HHS must issue guidance to states on collecting demographic data.
Monthly data updates
During a public health emergency, the publicly available maternal health data must be updated at least once a month.
Post-emergency data update
A final data update must be published no later than one month after a public health emergency ends.