PA Black Maternal Health Caucus Celebrates PA MOMNIBUS 2.0
Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus June 17, 2025 | 12:48 PM
HARRISBURG, June 17 – The co-chairs of the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus on Monday held their PA MOMNIBUS 2025 Day at the state Capitol. The events of the day were held to observe the progress of the group in the previous legislative session and highlight the new PA MOMNIBUS 2.0 legislative package for the 2025-26 session.
The PA MOMNIBUS 2.0 is a comprehensive legislative package, crafted for Pennsylvania to directly confront the staggering rate of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in Pennsylvania. The package of legislation would establish programs to tackle social determinants of health and provide essential resources and support to new moms and postpartum people. Together, these proposals represent a significant step toward promoting maternal health equity and ensuring the well-being of all moms and birthing people in Pennsylvania.
Co-Chair Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, D-Allegheny, led the day with a news conference to celebrate the continued efforts of the caucus and their legislative wins.
“We are building on the successes we had in the last legislative session,” Mayes said. “We’re continuing to advocate for policy-based legislative solutions to the way we face maternal health deserts in rural communities and the urban core; we’re addressing substance abuse disorder because it’s a driver of post-partum death; we’re looking to uplift midwifery and center midwives in our fight. We encourage all of our colleagues to ‘get on the bus’ and support our efforts to improve maternal healthcare and birthing outcomes for mothers across Pennsylvania.”
The caucus was launched in 2023 by Mayes, Rep. Gina H. Curry, D-Delaware, and Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Phila., and realized quick success with their initial PA MOMNIBUS in the 2024-25 legislative session, having five bills pass in the House with two of those becoming law in Pennsylvania. PA MOMNIBUS 2.0 is a collection of 10 House bills with a more strategic approach to addressing the critical disparities in maternal healthcare, particularly for Black mothers who have higher rates of morbidity and mortality in Pennsylvania.
Curry outlined the inspiration of the caucus which drives their work.
“We’re standing here today because mothers are still dying when they don’t have to,” Curry said. “We are driven by the statistic that 93.5% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. We are not doing this work in vain; we are lifting up each of those lives that have been lost, lifting up each family that has experienced loss, and we will continue this work in their memory because we have had success, but there is much more work to be done.”
Cephas, whose bill to require Medicaid coverage of doula services became Act 115 of 2024, touted the successes of the caucus while looking to the potential impacts of federal funding cuts.
“This is a caucus that is delivering results. We are standing on those building blocks and taking real steps forward,” Cephas said.
“We’re watching closely the steps being taken at the federal level to cut Medicaid for our communities. We know that will be detrimental to so many of our families. Medicaid covers nearly 41% of all births in the United States, and these draconian cuts would eliminate a lifeline for millions of pregnant women, especially those in low-income communities and in rural areas of PA where we’re already seeing people travelling across state borders to Ohio and West Virginia to access care. We are going to hold to our coalition and stay laser focused to ensure that Pennsylvania moms are not left behind in this moment.”
Earlier in the day, the House Health Committee approved two pieces of legislation in the package. House Bill 1212, the PA Dads Matter Act sponsored by Rep. Aerion Abney, D-Allegheny and Cephas, and H.B. 1234 sponsored by Mayes, which would expand Medical Assistance programs to cover blood pressure monitors as a pregnancy-related service, are now in position for consideration by the full House of Representatives as early as the week of June 23.
Last week on June 10, H.B. 1088 sponsored by Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Allegheny, became the first bill in the package to pass the full House of Representatives and awaits consideration by the state Senate. Hypertension and high-blood pressure are leading causes of death for mothers – H.B. 1088 would require insurance coverage of blood-pressure monitors as a pregnancy-related service as a companion to Mayes’ bill covering Medical Assistance coverage of the same.
The day’s events wrapped up with a roundtable discussion on the PA MOMNIBUS 2.0 legislative package with caucus co-chairs and bill prime sponsors, followed by the caucus’s inaugural Spring Legislative Reception for legislators and attendees with remarks by House Democratic Caucus leadership, local elected officials and national maternal health organizations.
The PA Black Maternal Health Caucus is a bicameral group comprised of over 60 legislators focused on boldly addressing the disturbing trends of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in the state through strategic, intersectional legislation and policy.