Lauren Underwood

After earning her nursing degree, Lauren pursued a career in healthcare policy in the Obama administration and later as an advisor at the Department of Health and Human Services. Lauren was sworn into Congress in 2019, becoming the first woman, person of color, and millennial to represent her community and the youngest black woman to serve in Congress. Putting her extensive healthcare background to work, she introduced her Momnibus package to address minority women’s health and passed the first part of it into law.

If you’ve been keeping track of Lauren, you know that she is all-in on maternal health. Last week, she joined Vice President Harris’ Maternal Health Day of Action and interviewed legendary Olympic track star Allyson Felix about what moms can do to protect themselves. In the interview, Lauren spoke about why it is so important for mothers to be able to identify warning signs of complications in their pregnancies and children and Allyson responded with a rather poignant comment – “Until the systems are in place to really reach everyone, we need to be able to speak up.”

Lauren Underwood has had her eyes on healthcare this year. She hosted a virtual series with various health groups and experts, which she turned into videos, so various constituents can access them and understand how the American Rescue Act lowers health plan costs. Lauren introduced a bill that would invest $1 billion in nursing schools to bolster education and address the shortage of qualified healthcare workers. Lauren recently celebrated her first bill signing ceremony and it was for a bill that she introduced! The bipartisan Protecting Moms Who Serve Act is one of 12 bills in the Momnibus package to address the maternal health crisis in America. This is step one out of 12 so we can definitely expect to see more of these signed into law soon! Another key provision in her bill package passed in the House in December with unanimous bipartisan support which is huge!

While Lauren is not yet a mother herself, she has taken up the legislative mantel on behalf of mothers everywhere, seeing her first “Momnibus” bill get signed into law. Now, another key provision in her broader bill package just passed the House with Unanimous bipartisan support. Yeah, let that sink in. The Maternal Vaccination Act looks to provide critical funding to increase maternal vaccination rates and reduce vaccination disparities. The US has one of the highest pregnant mortality rates among high-income countries, many of those deaths being preventable through proper vaccination. She is now urging her colleagues in the Senate to pass this bill so it can get working. Leave it to a nurse to deftly triage the shit out of the legislative process…Bravo!!

This week was the first bill signing ceremony for Lauren and it was extra special because it was one of the bills that she introduced. The bipartisan Protecting Moms Who Serve Act is one of 12 bills in the Momnibus package to address the maternal health crisis in America. The act ensures that veterans receive high quality maternal health care and support. This is step one of 12 so we expect to see more of these signed into law. Check out her announcement on her Instagram where she expresses her genuine excitement for the day!