While the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on July 24 attempted to consider a bill (S. 2328) designed to ensure safe motherhood, the mark-up was postponed for the fourth time in as many weeks when the committee could not obtain a quorum.
Controversy has erupted over a number of proposed amendments. When the mark-up was delayed several weeks ago, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) had planned to offer an amendment that would have required insurance plans to cover prescription contraceptives if they cover other prescription drugs. The amendment was based on a bill (S. 104) sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Harry Reid (D-NV).
Although Sen. Mikulski had agreed not to offer her amendment on July 24, 11 other amendments have been filed. One of those amendments, by Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-AK), would require the Department of Health and Human Services to study the safety of RU-486 and report back to the committee within 60 days.
The committee has rescheduled the mark-up for July 31.
Sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Safe Motherhood Act for Research and Treatment (SMART Mom Act) would establish an Interagency Coordinating Committee on Safe Motherhood. The coordinating committee would assess and evaluate health promotion campaigns administered by the federal government and their effect on health during pregnancy. The committee also would be charged with developing a federal research and strategic action plan for safe motherhood, reporting to Congress on key indicators of maternal health, and establishing and implementing a national public education and health promotion campaign on safe motherhood.
The SMART Mom Act also would expand and intensify research and data collection on pregnancy, pregnancy-related illnesses, injuries, or deaths, and postpartum health conditions at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill would establish a Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network at the NIH.
Under the bill, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be charged with awarding grants for community-based demonstration projects to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in pregnancy outcomes. Grants also would be awarded to prevention research centers to conduct research on improving maternal outcomes and improving racial and ethnic disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity. The CDC also would be required to expand and intensify its data collection and surveillance activities with respect to maternal mortality and morbidity, as well as the incidence and prevalence of symptoms and risk factors for pre-term births.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality also would be charged with conducting research on the quality of maternal health care.
Additionally, the NIH, the CDC, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be required to conduct a prospective study to determine the effects of pregnancy on the health of women.
S. 2328 would require the FDA to study marketed drugs, biological products, and devices to establish appropriate dosing for pregnant and lactating women and to determine whether they are safe for pregnant women and their fetuses. The bill also would require postmarketing studies by drug manufacturers to investigate the safe use of these drugs by pregnant and lactating women.
