If you haven’t seen it by now, you’ve probably heard about it. On Mother’s Day, the Trump administration rolled out a new website—Moms.gov—purporting to offer resources for new and expecting mothers. But unsurprisingly, the website is merely insidious, pronatalist propaganda that does little to actually help pregnant people and families. (Don’t worry if you’ve been sleeping on it; the president was, too.)

The site is coercively pro-birth with an emphasis on “natural” fertility messaging; promotes crisis pregnancy centers and anti-abortion hate groups; boosts Trump’s repackaged prescription platform and his mostly symbolic investment accounts; and pushes harmful pseudo-science disguised as maternal “health” information.

To be clear, there is a need for real action when it comes to maternal health. The United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality among wealthy nations. Although you wouldn’t know it from the administration’s Monday press conference, the root of the crisis is the unacceptably high mortality rate among Black women, which is three times higher than that of White women and is driven by systemic racism and inequities.

If this administration and Congress were serious about saving lives and ensuring the well-being and health of mothers, there is ample evidence of what works. Here are just four ways to support women and families:

1. Ensure and expand access to health care coverage.

Health care coverage is crucial for accessing prenatal, delivery, and postpartum services that can address chronic conditions and prevent and reduce complications and death. Unfortunately, the cost of health care, along with so many other basic essentials, is growing. This week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released data showing that inflation rose to 3.8 percent in April, the highest since May 2023. Prices for gas and groceries are spiking at the same time families are dealing with stagnant wages and exorbitant child care costs.

Meanwhile, thanks to the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, millions of Americans have been or may soon be priced out of or forced off their health care coverage. By the end of 2026, 7.3 million people could lose their Affordable Care Act coverage as a result of the end of the enhanced tax credit. In addition, states are preparing for the looming Medicaid budget cuts and eligibility changes from H.R. 1, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which will largely take effect in January 2027. While determining accurate projections can be a challenge, the new work requirements alone could threaten to eliminate Medicaid coverage for as many as 6 million women of reproductive age by 2034.

Instead of directing pregnant people to “pregnancy centers” that have a harmful history of medical misinformation and deception, the administration and Congress should:

• Repeal the OBBB’s Medicaid provisions to restore eligibility and coverage.
• Make the ACA’s enhanced tax credit permanent.

2. Invest in affordable child care and in the child care workforce.

While the administration has cut funding for critical programs such as Head Start, families’ need for affordable child care continues to grow. Data available on IWPR’s State PAL shows that the average cost of home-based infant child care in states across the country is as high as 27 percent of a woman’s earnings, and 51 percent of people live in a “child care desert,” where there aren’t enough facilities they can afford.

The care workforce, mostly comprised of women—disproportionately women of color—is critical, yet many do not earn a living wage. In fact, child care workers are two times as likely to live in poverty as the average American worker. IWPR research found that wages for child care workers are so low that they cannot afford center-based care for their own children.

Instead of coming up with ridiculous terms like “underbabied” as part of their fertility crisis fear-mongering, the administration and Congress should:

• Support increased funding for Head Start, Early Head Start, and the Child Care Development Fund in FY 2027.
• Enact a cap on child care costs at no more than 7 percent of income.
• Ensure the child care workforce can earn a living wage, access good benefits, enjoy workplace protections, and have opportunities for career advancement.

3. Support guaranteed paid leave.

Last month, Virginia became the most recent state to enact paid family and medical leave, joining 13 others and the District of Columbia, but US federal law does not guarantee paid leave for employees. While the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act requires 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave, fewer than two-thirds of workers can access it due to eligibility requirements. And more than a third of all workers still lack access to paid sick leave, with inequities across race, ethnicity, and income.

Ensuring workers have access to paid leave and the ability to take time to care for themselves and their families without jeopardizing their employment or income isn’t just critical to closing the pay gap, promoting equity and fairness, and promoting healthy families. Research has also found that paid family leave leads to improved mental health outcomes. This is particularly notable when recent data from maternal mortality review committees shows that mental health conditions continue to be the overall leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths, rising 5 percentage points in one year, to 27.7 percent in 2022.

Instead of focusing on the ways work can impact pregnancy—without acknowledging pregnant workers’ right to accommodations to protect their health—the administration and Congress should:

• Enact a national program of paid family and medical leave.
• Enact national policies that guarantee the right for all workers to earn paid sick time or time off for short-term illness, injury, medical treatment, or to care for the health of a loved one.

4. Address the Black maternal health crisis in the United States.

A range of factors contribute to the high rate of Black maternal mortality, including medical racism, social determinants of health, and abortion restrictions that reduce access to obstetric and gynecological care. IWPR analysis has demonstrated the critical role Black doulas and midwives play in better maternal health outcomes for Black women, but affordability remains a barrier to access.

According to the March of Dimes, over a third of US counties are already maternity care deserts, lacking an obstetric clinician or a birthing facility. The majority of Black women of reproductive age—6.7 million women—live and work in states that have banned or severely restricted abortion access. Such restrictions further reduce access to obstetric and gynecological care and have led to the denial of emergency care. Further, maternal death rates in abortion-restricted states are 62 percent higher than in states with abortion access, according to research from the Commonwealth Fund. And additional IWPR research found that among the 11 states with the highest maternal mortality rates from 2020 to 2022, 8 had total abortion bans.

Instead of attacking DEI initiatives and dismantling access to quality reproductive health care and freedoms, while at the same time weight-shaming and gaslighting prospective parents with shady science, the administration and Congress should:

• Support robust FY 2027 funding for the interconnected federal programs that support maternal and child health populations and protect and increase funding for the Title X family planning program.
• Provide accessible, quality health care and build a health care workforce that reflects the patient population, particularly in rural and underserved areas, including expanding access to midwives and doulas.
• Advance legislation that comprehensively addresses maternal mortality, morbidity, and related disparities across the United States.
• Enact a nationwide right to abortion and reduce financial barriers to such care. 

We’ve long known that this administration’s priorities do not include providing all Americans with the care they need. Supporting women and families requires more than telling them to eat healthy and lose weight or steering them toward ideologically fringe organizations. It means advancing policies that actually address the inequities in health care access and affordability, in the workplace, and in maternal health and well-being.