Strib Voices' Taylor Schlitz has written about the disproportionate danger Black women face in childbirth, particularly in Minnesota, where they have a 2.3 times higher pregnancy-related mortality rate than the state average. She criticizes state Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten's bill to require private insurance plans to cover doula services. However, she supports this bill, stating that she could not support requiring private insurance companies to cover these services. These comments were seen as an expression of understanding that stopped short of access. The bill was ultimately rejected by the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. The state's maternal mortality report recommends increasing funding for and access to maternal health programs, including integrating doulas and postpartum support services into health care coverage. For Black women, working women and families who cannot simply pay out of pocket for the support that may help protect them in one of their most vulnerable moments of their lives, this kind of politics can't be ignored.