Advocacy Activities & Updates
We support policies to optimize outcomes for high-risk pregnant people, and we prioritize those proposals aimed at eliminating health inequities. Letters, testimony, and other correspondence with policymakers that support our commitment to health equity and improving outcomes for individuals experiencing high-risk pregnancies can be found below. Items are categorized by their correlation with SMFM's Advocacy Agenda priorities. Questions? Contact Rebecca Abbott.
Click here to view our complete advocacy agenda (2021-2022).
Ensuring High-Risk Pregnant People and Their Families Have Access to Care- November 2, 2022: On behalf of SMFM, Democracy Forward submitted a formal request to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee (MMMRC) to comply with Texas law by releasing the 2022 joint report containing the MMMRC's findings and recommendations no later than November 10, 2022.
- June 17, 2022: SMFM submitted feedback on maternal health provisions included in the the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ FY 2023 inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) proposed rule.
- February 4, 2022: SMFM joins more than 80 organizations in a letter urging Congressional leadership to advance the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act.
September 21, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief detailing the impact of Oklahoma's abortion ban on maternal health.
September 16, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief detailing the impact of South Carolina's abortion ban on maternal health.
September 1, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief detailing the impact of West Virginia's abortion ban on maternal health.
August 16, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations to submit a legal brief in Texas underscoring the importance of federal law requiring clinicians to provide stabilizing medical care, including abortion care, to patients experiencing medical emergencies.
August 15, 2022: SMFM joined leaders in emergency medicine, public health, family medicine, OBGYN, pediatrics, and more to submit a legal brief in support of the U.S. Department of Justice’s challenge to an Idaho abortion law.
- August 11, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief detailing the impact of Arizona’s abortion ban on maternal health.
August 10, 2022: SMFM partnered with more than 100 US and international organizations to send a letter to the US State Department and US Agency for International Development urging bold action to expand global abortion access.
August 8, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief detailing how Georgia’s abortion ban will harm pregnant patients.
- July 25, 2022: SMFM joined partnering organizations in an amicus brief that opposes Ohio’s six-week ban on abortion care.
- July 20, 2022: SMFM joined partnering
organizations in an amicus
brief that opposes South Carolina’s six-week ban on abortion care.
- July 18, 2022: SMFM joined partnering
organizations in an amicus
brief opposing Kentucky’s trigger ban and six-week ban on abortion
care.
- July 14, 2022: SMFM joined
partnering organizations in an amicus brief opposing abortion bans in West
Virginia.
- July 8, 2022: SMFM joined an amicus brief outlining why abortion is critical to maternal health and opposing Utah’s abortion ban.
July 6, 2022: SMFM sent a letter to the Massachusetts Senate endorsing H. 4930, legislation that would further protect and expand abortion access in the state.
- May 10, 2022: SMFM joined nearly 30 physician groups in a letter urging members of the US Senate to vote yes on the Women’s Health Protection
Act, which would prevent states from restricting access to abortion care.
- March 28, 2022: SMFM joined more than 20 partner organizations in signing on to amicus brief for the Supreme Court of the State of Montana opposing abortion
restrictions.
- February 16, 2022: SMFM joined more than 100 reproductive health organizations in a letter to President Biden that urges him to address the abortion crisis in our country during his upcoming State of the Union address.
- September 16, 2022: SMFM joined nearly 50 partner organizations in a letter to House and Senate leadership seeking increased funding for the National Center for Health Statistics in FY 2023.
- July 1, 2022: SMFM
joined nearly 30 organizations in a letter to leaders of appropriations committees in the US House and Senate asking them to prioritize funding for the
NIH’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program in FY
2023.
- April 27, 2022: SMFM joined more than 100 organizations on a letter to Congressional leaders asking for increased funding to modernize the nation’s public health data systems.
- April 26, 2022: SMFM joined more than 50 organizations in a letter urging leadership of Senate and House Appropriations Committees to provide $100 million for the CDC’s Surveillance for Emerging Threats to Mothers and Babies Network (SET-NET).
- April 21, 2022: SMFM joined nearly 90 organizations in a letter to the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs calling for increased funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs in FY 2023.
- April 12, 2022: SMFM joined nearly 60 organizations in a letter urging leaders of Congressional Appropriations Committees to allocate sufficient funding in FY2023 for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
- April 6, 2022: SMFM joined more than 105 organizations in a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to ask for robust funding for the Title V Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant in FY 2023.
- April 6, 2022: SMFM joined nearly 100 partner organizations in sending a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to request an increase in funding for the Health Resources and Services Administration in FY 2023
- April 1, 2022: SMFM joined more than 175 organizations in a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees asking for an increase in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in FY 2023.
- February 10, 2022: SMFM joined 20 organizations in a letter calling on Congressional leadership to quickly pass FY 2022 appropriations bills that would increase funding for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.