I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6533 
To authorize the Secretary of Defense to share with State and local health 
authorities the practices of, and lessons learned by, the military health 
system for the prevention of infant and maternal mortality. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 17, 2020 
Ms. ESCOBAR (for herself and Mrs. HARTZLER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition 
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Defense to share with State 
and local health authorities the practices of, and lessons 
learned by, the military health system for the prevention 
of infant and maternal mortality. 
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 ‘‘Defeat Infant and Ma-
ternal Mortality Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) According to a report by the Department of 
Defense published in July 2019 titled ‘‘Maternal and 
Infant Mortality Rates in the Military Health Sys-
tem,’’ between January 2009 and June 2018, the 
military health system achieved a pregnancy-related 
mortality ratio of 7.40 deaths per 100,000 live 
births across both direct care and purchased card 
systems. Over the same period, the National 
Perinatal Information Center ratio was a statis-
tically significantly higher ratio of 11.3 deaths per 
100,000 live births. 
(2) The same report by the Department of De-
fense found that the military health system’s infant 
mortality rate of 2.51 deaths per 1,000 live births 
was statistically significantly lower than the Na-
tional Perinatal Information Center rate of 4.76 
deaths per 1,000 live births. 
(3) In the United States, the maternal mor-
tality rate remains unfortunately high. Some States 
experience rates as high as 24.3 deaths per 100,000 
live births. 
(4) A report by the Centers for Disease Control 
published in May 2019 on pregnancy-related deaths 
found that nearly 60 percent of such deaths are pre-
ventable with improved medical care. 
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(5) Components of the Department of Defense 
have previously entered into memoranda of under-
standing with State and local civilian health entities 
to better understand and improve public health 
trends, such as unexpected child deaths. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that civilian health entities could benefit from en-
hanced information sharing with the military health sys-
tem regarding best practices for safeguarding mothers and 
infants during delivery. 
SEC. 3. INFORMATION SHARING BY SECRETARY OF DE-
FENSE REGARDING PREVENTION OF INFANT 
AND MATERNAL MORTALITY. 
(a) AUTHORIZE INFORMATION SHARING.—The Sec-
retary of Defense may enter into memoranda of under-
standing with State and local health authorities to share 
the practices of, and lessons learned by, the military health 
system for the prevention of infant and maternal mor-
tality. 
(b) DEFINITION OF STATE.—In this section, the term 
‘‘State’’ means each State of the United States, the Dis-
trict of Columbia, each commonwealth, territory or posses-
sion of the United States, and each federally recognized 
Indian Tribe. 
Æ 
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