Happy Hump Day, Shit Givers.
In the spirit of Mother’s Day coming up this weekend (you’re welcome for the reminder), why not go hard celebrating moms and caregivers everywhere? The people who are doing it all, often without support or pay, while being told they’re valued in a system that consistently proves otherwise.
Like almost everything we cover here, all the ways we fail mothers are just decisions we’re making. Which means we can make different ones!
Let’s go.
— Willow
Maternity care deserts, and other things we don’t talk about on Mother’s Day
We’re failing mothers right from the beginning: the US has the highest maternal mortality rate of any wealthy nation, and Black mothers die at 3x the rate of white mothers. More than a third of US counties are maternity care deserts, with no OBs, no midwives, and no hospitals with labor and delivery.
Here’s what you can do:
Find out if you live in a maternity care desert (like more than 2.3 million women of reproductive age) using March of Dimes’ Maternity Care Deserts Map (go)
Join Rep. Underwood’s Momnibus movement for better maternal health outcomes, and keep up with the Black Maternal Health Caucus (go)
Fight for healthier moms, babies, and families by supporting the advocacy work and training programs at the Center for Maternal Health Equity (go)
Donate, volunteer, or become a doula (or get matched with one) at Birth In Color. They’re fighting for reproductive justice to fix maternal mortality rates in the US (go)
The invisible labor holding everything together
Women do a disproportionate share of unpaid care work, for children, for aging parents, and for sick family members. When the care work is paid, it’s one of the lowest-compensated jobs in the economy. Meanwhile, the US is one of the only wealthy nations without guaranteed family leave, and childcare costs more than college in most states.
Here’s what you can do:
Be heard about expanding paid family leave through the More Paid Leave for More Americans Act. (go)
Be heard about affordable childcare by urging your representative to support national child care (go)
The Institute for Caregivers gathers the data needed to build better policy for caregivers. Donate or join their advocacy efforts (go)
The Credit for Caring Act would give caregivers a much needed tax break for the costs of providing long-term care to a loved one (go)
For the moms carrying food insecurity, climate chaos, and a newborn
Globally, a woman dies from pregnancy or childbirth complications every two minutes. Almost all of these deaths are preventable. And in the lowest-income countries, moms also carry the burden of food insecurity, lack of clean water, and climate disruption (often all at the same time).
Here’s what you can do:
Mothers2Mothers employs women living with HIV as community health workers to mentor other HIV-positive mothers and deliver primary care services (go)
Reduce the number of women who die from pregnancy complications and childbirth every year by donating to Every Mother Counts (go)
MSD for Mothers works with grantees to promote safe, high-quality, and equitable maternity care for people everywhere (go)
And another thing!
As we all know, moms are right about just about everything. So why don’t we put more of them in office? The people who know what care infrastructure needs to look like should be the ones building it.
Here’s what you can do:
Emerge recruits and empowers women to run for all levels of office (go)
Matriarch gives progressive working women the backing they need to run for office and win (go)
The Vote Mama Foundation helps remove barriers that prevent women from running for office, so they can pass legislation that benefits everyone (go)
Thank you — as always — for giving a shit.
Now go call your mother!
— Willow
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