Consider what is actually lost when a Black mother dies. Almost four out of five Black mothers serve as the sole or co-breadwinner for their families. More than half are raising children on their own. Nearly three out of five are financially supporting their extended family. When those women are taken too soon, the consequences are immediate and devastating: lost income, no one to cover childcare, and the slow unraveling of plans for home ownership, education, and retirement savings that may never be rebuilt. The loss of a Black mother doesn’t just break a family’s heart. It breaks its budget—and its future.

This is the reality behind a crisis that costs our society more than $30 billion annually and can keep families out of economic security for generations. The culprit is the United States’ abysmal record on maternal mortality and the staggering disparities for Black women. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy than White women. The vast majority of pregnancy-related deaths—more than 80%—are preventable. While Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that maternal mortality rates decreased for Latinas and White women in 2023, Black women are the only demographic for which the numbers are increasing.

And earlier this month, just days before Black Maternal Health Week, which began this week, the White House released a budget request that would further cut programs designed to save women and children’s lives.

The financial wounds don’t stop at the immediate loss of a paycheck. Black women face compounding disadvantages that make every stage of this crisis more economically costly. Income disparities and lack of supportive workplace policies mean that 42% of Black women who take leave do so without pay. Research from my organization, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), finds a positive health benefit for people with access to remote work—but Black women are less likely to have such jobs. These structural gaps mean that even surviving a difficult pregnancy can push Black families deeper into financial instability, with less money for childcare, education, home ownership, retirement savings, and building generational wealth.

The same factors that contributed to the crisis in the first place—systemic and medical racism, inadequate access to affordable and quality health care, and lack of job security or paid leave—have all been exacerbated for Black women under the current administration. We are bearing the burden of attacks on DEI, health system closures and increasing health care costs, and job losses in a turbulent economy, all of which contribute to poor maternal health outcomes—and even the loss of life and families left to grieve.

Every maternal death sends ripple effects across families and communities. Black children are disproportionately likely to lose a parent—and when they do, systemic barriers make the loss even more disruptive long-term, compounding wealth inequality for families already locked out of financial security.

The administration and the Republican-controlled Congress’s policy agenda has made the financial stakes worse. Last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” further undermined women’s economic stability and threatened maternal health and care access by taking critical investments away from millions of women to provide tax cuts for the wealthy. The law—which cut $1.4 trillion from health care, food assistance, and education programs relied on by women and caregivers—will stall economic growth and have negative impacts on the financial stability of families, communities, and the nation. These aren’t abstract policy decisions. For a Black mother who relies on Medicaid for prenatal care, or food assistance during pregnancy, or a childcare subsidy that makes going back to work or school possible, these cuts are the difference between stability and financial free fall.

President Donald Trump’s FY27 budget request continues this destructive path. Amid further attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion are deep cuts to crucial programs like the Health Resources Services Administration’s Healthy Start program and the CDC’s Safe Motherhood/Infant Health initiative—the very programs designed to close the gap that is costing Black families their lives and their livelihoods.

What can’t be measured in dollars is the human cost to families and communities who are losing loved ones at unacceptably high rates, and for preventable reasons. But the dollar cost is staggering too—and it falls hardest on the families who can least afford it. 

This week, Black Maternal Health Week, is a reminder that the time to address this emergency is now. Yes, there are many crises going on in our world, and this remains one of them.

Affordable health care, real access to reproductive care, stronger health systems, more Black birth workers, fair wages, paid leave, and humane workplace policies are not radical solutions. They are essential investments in the health of families, the strength of our economy, and the future of Black communities.

Ending the Black maternal health crisis requires recognizing it for what it truly is: a failure of policy that costs lives and entrenches wealth inequality. If we are serious about economic equity, we must act as though Black women’s lives—and their families’ financial security—are worth protecting.

Jamila K. Taylor, PhD., is president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the nation’s leading think tank working to win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. 

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