Letter: Support care for mothers

As a mother, I’m thankful to have three children, Lellianna, 6, Adaline, 4, and Isabelle, 2, who were all born healthy and have been given many opportunities. Throughout my pregnancies, I had routine checkups to ensure that my children and I were healthy.

I had high-risk pregnancies of various causes, but I received the care and support needed to keep everyone alive.

Unfortunately, every day about 16,000 children around the world die from preventable causes and about 800 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth because they do not have the same access to quality health care.

The good news, despite these statistics, thanks to U.S. leadership, we have cut in half the number of kids dying from preventable causes.

Now it’s time to finish the job! Thankfully, a bipartisan group of senators recently reintroduced the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S. 1730). This legislation would help expand proven solutions to end these deaths within a generation.

I urge Sen. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to co-sponsor the Reach Act, and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, to co-sponsor the bill when it is reintroduced by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, in the House of Representatives in early September.