The Ohio Senate has passed a bill aimed at preventing infant mortality. One of the sponsors of the legislation, Republican Senator Shannon Jones, says a lot of research and collaboration went into the bill.
“The bottom line is we are trying to focus and target our efforts in those proven and evidence based interventions to sort of scale those interventions so that we can actually, in a way that’s meaningful and timely, improve those outcomes.”
The bill seeks to improve data collection about infant mortality, and encourages local groups to create programs to help new parents. Ohio has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the country and its black infant mortality rate is even worse. The legislation now goes to the Ohio House, which isn’t scheduled to take it up until after the November election.