I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5268 
To provide assistance to improve maternal and newborn health in developing 
countries, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 11, 2010 
Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. WOOLSEY, 
Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. CLARKE, 
Ms. LEE of California, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. 
DAVIS of California, Mr. CONYERS, and Ms. MATSUI) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To provide assistance to improve maternal and newborn 
health in developing countries, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improvements in Glob-
al Maternal and newborn health Outcomes while Maxi-
mizing Successes Act’’ or ‘‘Improvements in Global 
MOMS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) In 2000, the United States joined 188 other 
countries in supporting 8 United Nations Millen-
nium Development Goals (MDGs), including MDG 
5, to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three- 
quarters by 2015. In 2005, universal access to re-
productive health was added as a target for MDG 5. 
(2) On January 15, 2009, United States Per-
manent Representative to the United Nations Susan 
Rice stated before the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions of the Senate that President Barack Obama is 
committed to ‘‘making the Millennium Development 
Goals America’s goals.’’. 
(3) With thousands of avoidable maternal 
deaths still occurring, the United States will need to 
immediately scale up its funding and delivery of 
proven low-cost, lifesaving interventions in order to 
fulfill its commitment to help ensure that MDG 5 is 
met. 
(4) Substantial progress in maternal health has 
been made in some countries and regions: Egypt, 
Honduras, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and parts of Ban-
gladesh have all halved their maternal mortality ra-
tios over the past few decades. 
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(5) However, MDG 5 has made the least 
progress of all the MDGs. At the current pace, 
MDG 5 will not be met in Asia until 2076 and much 
later in Africa. 
(6) An estimated 8,800,000 children under the 
age of 5 die each year. Over 40 percent of these die 
in the first month of life. And mortality rates are in-
creasing for those born to young mothers or where 
pregnancies are less than a year apart. 
(7) Hundreds of thousands of women die each 
year from causes related to pregnancy and child-
birth. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occur in 
the developing world and the vast majority are pre-
ventable. 
(8) In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman’s lifetime 
risk of maternal death is a staggering 1 in 22, com-
pared with 1 in 4,800 in the United States, accord-
ing to the United Nations Children’s Fund 
(UNICEF). 
(9) Nine out of 10 women in sub-Saharan Afri-
ca will lose a child during their lifetimes. 
(10) For every maternal death, approximately 
20 women—or 10,000,000 women per year—suffer 
complications with severe consequences, including 
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pregnancy-related injuries such as fistula, uterine 
prolapse, infections, diseases, and disabilities. 
(11) The number one cause of maternal deaths 
is hemorrhage. Other primary causes of maternal 
death include sepsis, unsafe abortion, hypertensive 
disorder, and prolonged or obstructed labor. 
(12) Violent acts against pregnant women can 
lead to poor health outcomes, including preterm 
labor, preterm delivery, miscarriage, and stillbirths, 
and even maternal deaths, and the risk for maternal 
mortality is 3 times as high for abused mothers. 
(13) The spacing of births has a powerful im-
pact on a child’s chances of survival. Children born 
less than 2 years after the previous birth are about 
2.5 times more likely to die before age 5 than chil-
dren born 3 to 5 years after the previous birth. 
(14) Pregnancy is the leading cause of death 
for young women aged 15 to 19 worldwide. Com-
pared to girls in their twenties, girls aged 15 to 19 
are twice as likely, and girls under 15 five times as 
likely, to die in childbirth, and mortality and mor-
bidity rates are also higher among infants born to 
young mothers. 
(15) Globally, 215,000,000 women would like to 
delay or end childbearing, but do not have access to 
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modern contraceptives. Fully addressing this need 
would prevent an additional 53,000,000 unintended 
pregnancies each year and reduce maternal deaths 
due to unsafe abortion by 82 percent. 
(16) If family planning and maternal and new-
born services were provided simultaneously, the costs 
of these services would decline by $1,500,000,000 
compared with investing in maternal and newborn 
care alone—this dual investment would result in a 
70 percent decline in maternal deaths and 44 per-
cent decline in newborn deaths. 
(17) Maternal death rates are inextricably tied 
to neonatal survival, with the risk of death doubling 
for newborns in some countries in the developing 
world following maternal death. 
(18) In many developing countries, including 
fragile states and countries affected by conflict, lack 
of access to quality health care facilities, health serv-
ices, and trained providers results in deaths for 
mothers, newborns, and children—the majority of 
births in Africa take place without a skilled attend-
ant present, increasing the risk of death or disability 
for both mother and newborn. 
(19) The experiences of United States Govern-
ment-supported and nongovernmental organization 
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