During Black Maternal Health Week, Pa. officials highlight efforts to cut mortality rates

Edward Gilmore said his daughter LaShana did everything right during her pregnancy with her second child in 2019. “I saw her the day before. She was a fitness guru like me,” Edward Gilmore said, adding that LaShana Gilmore had good insurance and had been conscientious about her health and keeping her medical appointments while she was pregnant. But LaShana, 34, died on the operating table during a caesarian section at Lankenau Medical Center just outside Philadelphia. Her death, Edward Gilmore said, is a heartbreaking example of the maternal mortality that affects Black women at two to three times the rate of white women. Gilmore spoke about his daughter Tuesday at a rally to mark Black Maternal Health Week in the Pennsylvania Capitol.  Members of the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus detailed the issues Black women and birth givers face during pregnancy that puts their lives disproportionately at risk. They also promoted the “PA Momnibus” legislative package focused on targeted investments and improvements in maternal health care in the commonwealth. “We have a serious, serious crisis in access going on. We have a maternal health care desert in so many spaces in our commonwealth” said State Rep. Gina H. Curry (D-Delaware),...