Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A baby formula shortage has hit major retailers, Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach a Major League Baseball game on-field, and Kamala Harris brings Black maternal health to the top of the U.S. policy agenda. The Broadsheet will be off tomorrow for Good Friday—we’ll see you back here on Monday. Have a restful weekend.
– Call to action. Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris convened cabinet secretaries and government agency leaders for a meeting devoted to Black maternal health. Scheduled to take place during Black Maternal Health Week, the meeting followed December’s Maternal Health Day of Action and marked the second year the White House has issued a presidential proclamation on the issue.
The gathering was the first time that leaders across agencies—including “agencies that may not have historically taken a leading role addressing the maternal health crisis,” the White House says—came together for such a summit to elevate Black maternal health to a national priority.
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, a disparity the CDC credits to unequal access to quality health care, structural racism, and implicit bias. Maternal health isn’t a new cause for Harris; she backed the Maternal CARE Act and the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, bills that aimed to close those gaps, during her time in the Senate.
As part of Wednesday’s summit, the White House announced updates to initiatives meant to close the fatal gap. The Biden administration is urging states to extend Medicaid coverage for the first year after birth (if states cooperate, the administration estimates the coverage would reach 720,000 more people). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are applying a new “birthing-friendly” label to hospitals that meet standards for maternal health. And this summer, the administration plans to involve the private sector, asking health care facilities and insurers to make commitments to improve health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women.
Harris’s gathering brought together obvious stakeholders like Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, as well as the heads of the Department of Labor, Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Environmental Protection Agency. The lineup is an acknowledgment that pregnancy and postpartum health outcomes should be cause for concern across the government sector. “If we are to expect and actually influence positive outcomes on this issue, we must see her then as a whole human being,” Harris told the group, adding that cabinet leaders must think about maternal health as it intersects with issues like housing, transportation, and nutrition.
All told, the gathering shows the power of elevating diverse leaders to all levels of government. It’s no coincidence that the first presidential administration action addressing Black maternal health didn’t happen until a Black woman took office as vice president. From her perch as VP, Harris was able to bring her lived experience and deep understanding of the importance of closing racial disparities in women’s health care to the nation’s highest office.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Paige McGlauflin. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- In override. On Wednesday Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature voted to override Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill that would ban abortion after 15 weeks. The override means that legal abortion access across the state has been suspended immediately. Axios
- Applications open. Finland will decide whether to apply to join NATO in the coming weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday in a joint address with Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson. The two countries have historically taken positions of neutrality with membership to the military alliance, but both PMs noted that opinions in their respective countries have changed following neighboring country Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. NATO officials indicated that both countries would be welcomed into the alliance, should they apply. Financial Times
- Landmark legislation. Indonesia's House of Representatives passed landmark legislation on Wednesday criminalizing nine forms of sexual violence. The bill was first proposed by advocacy groups 10 years ago, and comes at a time when the country has seen a rise in reported cases of violence against women. Guardian
- Retention benefit. Only half of working parents say their employer has added childcare policies or benefits in the last year, according to childcare provider Bright Horizon’s 2022 Modern Family Index report. About 60% of respondents say they would stay with an employer if emergency childcare benefits and increased support for everyday childcare needs were provided. Fortune
- IVF discrimination. Lesbian couples can often receive insurance coverage for IVF, qualifying under infertility benefits. But same-sex male couples usually don't qualify. Two partnered men looking to conceive using a surrogate sued New York City, alleging the city's employee insurance plan discriminates against them. New York Times
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Leslie Saltzman has joined Ovia Health as chief medical officer. Former Meta vice president of commerce partnerships Annelies Jansen will join Spring as president and chief operating officer. PayPal senior vice president of corporate finance and investor relations Gabrielle Rabinovitch will serve as the company’s chief financial officer. Formstack has appointed Four Winds Interactive chief people officer Tammy Polk as their chief human resources officer. Wpromote head of private equity Jenny Son has been appointed president of hair care brand Dae Hair. Amee Chand has joined Thumbtack's board of directors. Former 1stDibs chief financial officer Tu Nguyen has joined Sorare as chief financial officer. Jenny Lewis, former head of U.S. and Canada at Uber, has joined wedding planning company The Knot Worldwide as chief marketing officer.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Odd jobs. It's been five months since Princess Mako left Japan following the negative public response to her marriage to Kei Komuro. After giving up a hefty sum and losing her title, Mako is settling into life in New York City, working as an unpaid intern of sorts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, specializing in Japanese art. Japan Times
- Out of stock. Target, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens are among the retailers limiting the number of baby formula products customers can buy as the U.S. grapples with a supply chain shortage. The shortage stems from a February recall of powdered formula products from Abbott Nutrition, which makes formula brands including Similac, after several babies fell ill and two died from bacterial infections. Washington Post
- Home run. Alyssa Nakken, an assistant coach with the San Francisco Giants, made Major League Baseball history on Tuesday night. Nakken became the first woman to coach on-field when she replaced Antoan Richardson on first base during the fourth inning of the Giants' game against the San Diego Padres. Nakken joined the team as an intern in 2014 and was named assistant coach in 2020. Yahoo! Sports
- Farewell. Bitch Media, a Portland, Ore.-based media outlet providing feminist commentary on pop culture, will cease operations in June. The organization said recent challenges led it to conclude that it can not “sustainably continue creating the quality content that our readers and supporters expect.” During its 25-year reign, Bitch Media evolved from a zine distributed on the streets of San Francisco to a full-fledged nonprofit with a suite of offerings, including a magazine, podcasts, writing fellowships, and campus speaker series. Bitch Media
ON MY RADAR
Crypto isn’t just for bros: meet the mothers entering the market NBC News
There's a good reason so many moms are becoming life coaches Romper
How South Asia's bridal industry built a WhatsApp empire Guardian
I was fired for trying to unionize my preschool Harper’s Bazaar
PARTING WORDS
-Lenora Claire, Beverly Hills-based stalking and harassment survivor and victim’s advocate, on how Kanye West’s online treatment of Kim Kardashian sheds light on digital harassment during divorce.
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