Maternal deaths, women’s health prompt legislation

More Georgia women — especially Black women — are dying from pregnancy-related health problems. Health care advocates say that’s partly due to lack of access to timely medical care and trustworthy contraceptive and abortion services. 

To address the issue, State Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook (D-163) says she will introduce a bill to limit state funding for unregulated crisis pregnancy centers and define terms like “advertising,” “emergency contraception,” and “pregnancy services center.”

Westbrook announced the bill at a Nov. 23 Women’s Reproductive Health Rights forum in Hinesville, sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc’s Nu Rho Omega chapter and Cultivated Pearls Foundation of Southeast Georgia.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says crisis pregnancy centers use deceptive marketing tactics to try and delay or prevent people from seeking abortion care. 

“We want to make sure first and foremost that the public knows what these centers do and what they don’t do.” Westbrook told The Current, “and just sort of look at the issue of whether they should be receiving state funding.”

Her bill would crack down on false or misleading advertising about pregnancy services by imposing civil fines and corrective ads; requiring notices as to whether a licensed medical doctor, registered nurse, or other licensed medical personnel are on premises; and mandating notices as to whether abortion, emergency contraception, or referrals for those services are available.

Georgians pay millions in taxes for fake abortion clinics

In 2017, then-Gov. Nathan Deal signed a law funding “pregnancy support services” that explicitly excludes most abortions. That year, the Georgia Department of Public Health awarded Life Resources of Georgia, Inc. an annual state contract to administer grants for 13 “pregnancy resource centers” with the stipulation that it “Ensure grant funds are not used to counsel toward abortion, refer for abortion or provide abortion.” 

Most such clinics, Westbrook said, don’t offer medical care beyond a pregnancy test and set follow-up visits after Georgia’s six-week window. Some CPCs give away baby supplies or show a client ultrasound images of the fetus.

In its bid application, LRG said it had previously awarded 12 grants for “ultrasound proficiency trainings” from 2008-2013. Georgia does not require ultrasound techs to be certified and LRG did not list training details.

Since then, Georgia CPCs have received millions in DPH grants. By 2021, Georgia CPCs had raked in $10,314,706 in tax dollars, according to SPARK, an Atlanta-based reproductive justice organization. In fiscal year 2024 alone, DPH disbursed $2,033,112.06 to “direct client service providers” through the ​​Positive Alternatives for Pregnancy and Parenting Grant Program.

Women’s health advocates have been on alert since DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey dismissed all members of Georgia’s 36-seat Maternal Mortality Review Committee. Toomey’s Nov. 8 letter stated that an investigation was ”unable to uncover which individual(s) disclosed confidential information.” 

ProPublica reported the committee had found the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller preventable, after ProPublica reported an unidentified committee member had stated that Miller put off treatment for medical complications specifically due to state law.

Westbrook said the committee’s work should be transparent, adding that leaks to reporters are “how we find out about things in the press…sometimes that’s an act of bravery, and that’s the only reason we know these women’s names.”

In June 2023, the committee issued a report that showed younger women, women of color, and women on Medicaid were far more likely to die of pregnancy or pregnancy-related causes between 2012 and 2020. During that time, 786 Georgia women died for reasons associated with pregnancy:

• 60% had a high school education or less.
• 56% were non-Hispanic Black women.
• 6 women in Coastal Georgia died of “pregnancy-related” causes during that time.
• 89% of the pregnancy-related deaths could likely have been prevented.
• Mental health (27%) and hemorrhage (22%) were the leading causes of death. Of the mental health deaths, 73% were suicides and 47% involved substance use disorder.

On Nov. 19, Gov. Brian Kemp appointed a new chair to the committee, Dr. Padmashree “Champa” Woodham, an OB/GYN who teaches at Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University). 

DPH is taking applications for the remaining seats through Dec. 6.

Health experts, local women react 

Women’s health experts urged the Hinesville audience to educate themselves about their bodies and their reproductive rights. Organizers said they did not advocate any “particular” procedure and that the event was about supporting each other’s choices.

Retired Navy captain Dr. Kelly O. Elmore, an OB/GYN and former chief of staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, said Black women are more likely to die “in or surrounding birth.” She said all women need access to board-certified OB/GYNs and nurse practitioners because contraceptives are harder to access post-Roe.

Tracey A. Clark-Johnson, a Savannah family nurse practitioner, said family planning is not only “about the vagina and the uterus. It is also about the male penis. Reproductive health is not just a female issue.”

Brandi Pinckney-Greene, a telehealth nurse and certified family nurse practitioner, said more Black heterosexual women are being diagnosed with HIV, adding that both partners should have a say on condom use: “If the man doesn’t like it, we as women need to understand the importance of taking charge of your body.”

Registered dietitian Raleighetta Vonzell Varnadoe, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, felt “torn” about speaking because her adopted son had questioned why she was taking part in the panel and whether she was against abortion. She told him, “That’s not what this is about. It’s about the rights for women and their lives.” 

Cherisse Johnson, who brought her 13-year-old daughter, Jalah, to the meeting, said, “You would think you’d want to keep us healthy and sound, and I think they’re just trying to take us back to the Stone Ages.”

Jalah Johnson found the panel “informative” because she “learned about the stuff for periods and the scary Pap smears.” She also questioned whether she could get an abortion if she ever needed one: “Because with the Project 2025, if it’s not a rape and it doesn’t have a police report, how’s it going to get taken care of?”

“We are seeing the negative effects on women’s health,” Westbrook said. “We’re seeing women have to travel, women not able to access healthcare. So I think the time is right to start the conversation.”

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