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I don't know anything about you, but I do know that you were born. From a human womb [1].

Of all of the parts of your life one of the most important is the period of time you spent as a parasite growing inside of a uterus. The health of the person who gave birth to you is an enormous predictor of your health. Their use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs can impact birth weight and cause birth defects. Their diet is your diet. If your mother's body is stressed during and after pregnancy it will likely stress your body, and can impact you for the rest of your life.

And, here in the United States we are especially bad at maternal health [2]

When adults make objectively bad decisions about their own health it's easy to dismiss it as part of their freedom [3]. But infants and the not-yet-born don't have the ability to make their own decisions. So if we are going to use government resources to do anything for healthcare, shouldn't we at least agree to focus on the people who are truly helpless?

We can and must do more for maternal health. Because the health of mothers today is the future health of our society.

[1] At least, as of the moment I wrote this. In the future there may be artificial wombs.

[2] We have the highest maternal mortality rate among our peer countries. And it's getting worse.

[3] Of course, freedom is rarely an individual experience. Take drinking and driving which is a poor choice that also can impact other people.