MATERNAL MORTALITY:  Try googling “maternal mortality” and click for “news.” Maternal mortality is a big issue on the Left.  From their point of view, even though the numbers are very small, the racial disparities are large, and American rates are worse than rates in many other countries (though that’s at least in part because we define maternal mortality broadly).  The abortion angle on the issue also interests them.  Oh … and climate change … Ms. Magazine is blaming climate change.

They’re not wrong that the death of a young mother (or father) is especially tragic or that we should do better.  But the emphasis on racial disparities and the solutions they offer won’t get us there.

The racial disparities are what has inspired the so-called “Momnibus Act,” which is getting a lot of attention in Congress.  But the attention is mostly misinformed.  The proposal is all about spending federal money to “invest” in minority communities, when the most useful thing to do would be to advise all obese or diabetic women (not just those of any particular race) to lose weight and keep their diabetes under control.  Meanwhile, one California county has declared “Latina Maternal Health Awareness Month,” even though Latina mothers are actually less likely to die in childbirth than non-Hispanic white mothers.  Nobody wants to talk about obesity in connection with maternal health (just like they don’t want to talk about obesity in connection with cancer).

The Commission on Civil Rights’ report on maternal mortality preferred to put more blame on the racism of doctors and nurses—even though doing so would only discourage minority mothers from seeking care early in their pregnancy (which is also a contributing factor to the racial disparities).