WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 10, 2024 – Today, MomsRising/Mamás con Poder and Black Mamas Matter Alliance joined the National Partnership for Women & Families to announce Listening to Mothers IV, a nationwide initiative to hear directly from mothers about being pregnant, giving birth, and supporting themselves and their babies postpartum. As the maternal health crisis continues, the organizations are seeking better data on maternal health inequities to support more effective solutions. This effort is even more important because of the uneven and often inadequate data available on the experiences of mothers across the country. Most recently, maternal health panels in Idaho and Georgia, states with some of the highest maternal mortality rates, have been disbanded.

Listening to Mothers IV will include the following elements:

• A national survey of several thousand people who gave birth in 2023 conducted in English or Spanish
• Oversampling of Indigenous and Asian childbearing people for the first time, in addition to capturing Black and Latina experiences
• Topics include:
• Care team and prenatal through postpartum services
• Respectful/disrespectful care
• Maternal mental health
• Availability and use of parental leave and other workplace benefits
• Impact of COVID
• Unmet social needs

Since 2002, Listening to Mothers (LTM) has been the preeminent national survey of maternity experiences, as described by new mothers themselves. Fielded three times nationally and once in California, this widely cited survey captures otherwise unavailable information about mothers’ experiences and views from before pregnancy through the postpartum and infant periods.

The Listening to Mothers Planning Advisory Council (LTMAC), a group of 12 community-based maternal health experts, was established to center people of color and racial and health equity in the survey questions, data analysis, and dissemination of results.

“Listening to Mothers IV places the experiences and stories of pregnant people and new mothers at the center of the maternal health policy debate, where they belong,” said Jocelyn Frye, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. “The maternal health crisis is one of the most profound inequities of our health system. We know that women of color experience worse maternal health outcomes than white women, and Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. Listening to Mothers’ national survey will help shine a spotlight on these experiences, and surface solutions. And we couldn’t have better partners in this work than Black Mamas Matter Alliance and MomsRising/Mamás con Poder; two leaders in maternal health and justice.”

“At MomsRising, we’re committed to lifting up the stories of how public policies (and the lack-thereof) impact real families, bringing the voices and experiences of real women and mothers straight to our local, state, and nation’s leaders,” said MomsRising National Director for Maternal Justice, Tina Sherman. “Listening to Mothers IV is a critical strategy for surfacing data – including first-of-its kind data about Latina women.”

“In BMMA’s work to advance Black Maternal Health, rights, and justice, we know that meaningful change can only come when we center, trust, and amplify the voices of Black women and birthing people who have firsthand experience navigating our nation’s maternal and reproductive healthcare systems,” said Angela Doyinsola Aina, Executive Director of Black Mamas Matter Alliance. “Listening to Mothers IV is consistent with our mission of elevating the insights, scholarship, and maternity care work of all Black Mamas across the full spectrum of maternal, reproductive, and perinatal health in the U.S.”

Listening to Mothers IV survey results and comprehensive analysis with policy recommendations will be released starting in Summer 2025. For Listening to Mothers updates go to Listening to Mothers IV.

# # #

About the National Partnership
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, reproductive health and rights, access to quality, affordable health care and policies that help all people meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at NationalPartnership.org.

About MomsRising/MamásConPoder
MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, stop discrimination against women and moms, and build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color – and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: www.MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org – and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.

About Black Mamas Matter Alliance
The Black Mamas Matter Alliance is a national network of Black women-led organizations and multi-disciplinary professionals working to ensure that all Black Mamas have the rights, respect, and resources to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy. Learn More: blackmamasmatter.org

Media Contact:

Llenda Jackson-Leslie
Email
202-986-2600