A week ago, families all over the nation celebrated Mother’s Day as a time to honor the matriarchs. However, there are some women who spent that time mourning the loss of their child, due to what is known as maternal mortality.

Maternal mortality rates are rising in Prince William County, and the infants who are dying in childbirth have grown, especially during the pandemic. This issue particularly impacts women of color, who often feel ignored in hospital settings with their primary care providers.

In Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has already addressed this situation by creating what is called the Maternal Mortality Review Committee. Their focus is to identify data trends among maternal death rates and create a strategic framework to improve outcomes for expectant mothers. Legislation has been created to mandatorily report all maternal deaths and include it in an annual report. Policy analysts within Anonymous List for Change are reviewing Prince William County’s maternal mortality data and will reveal their findings to advocate for a similar committee.

Prince William County has long had a history of mothers who will travel to Fairfax, INOVA in Alexandria and Stafford Hospital to deliver their newborns because they feel there is more sufficient care in those facilities. This is especially true for mothers of color, and there needs to be a strategy in place to determine how to provide these expectant mothers the care they need. No mother should have to travel 30 minutes when they are in labor, especially mothers from low income communities.

We spoke with Woodbridge Board of County Supervisor Margaret Franklin and Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye on this issue, and they offered their comments on the situation.

“Infant mortality is an incredibly important discussion, not only to raise awareness about neonatal care but also to raise awareness about protecting the health of pregnant women,” said Franklin. “I’m looking forward to further exploring this topic in Woodbridge and identifying risk factors as well as health disparities that may exist within infant mortality rates.”

“There are large disparities in our community when it comes to life expectancy,” said Boddye. “Based on recent data from NOVANT, there is on average 7+ years difference in life expectancy in the Occoquan District alone based on what neighborhood you live in.”

“The gap in quality of life starts at the very beginning, as infant mortality rates, pregnancy resources, and neonatal care also differ widely throughout the community. We must do whatever we can to uplift the experiences of pregnant women and their families in our county so we can better serve them and protect them as well as their babies.”

The time has come to address the disproportionally high infant mortality rates among women of color in Prince William County, before the next Mother’s Day arrives with another woman in tears instead of joy.

The PW Perspective would like to thank Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin, Occoquan District Supervisor Kenny Boddye, and Anonymous List for Change for their contributions to this article.