Philadelphia will PAY pregnant women $1,000 a month to stem falling fertility rates

Pregnant women in Philadelphia are being paid $1,000 a month as part of a testing program aimed at reducing the city’s infant mortality rate.

Starting next year, 250 expectant mothers will receive non-binding payments from the third month of pregnancy until their baby’s first birthday.

The pilot program, known as the Philly Joy Bank, will operate in the neighborhoods with the highest rates of low birth weight — Cobbs Creek, Strawberry Mansion, and Nicetown-Tioga.

Of the ten most populous cities in the United States, Philadelphia has the highest infant mortality rate.

The program also comes amid a baby boom across America, with fewer women than ever having children amid changing family values.

Around 250 women receive non-binding monthly payments from the third month of pregnancy until their child’s first birthday

Fertility in the US has declined sharply in recent decades. The average American woman has just 1.6 children in her lifetime, well below the replacement level of 2.1

Announcing the program at a press conference Monday, Dr. Stacey Kallem, director of the Department of Maternal, Child and Family Health at the Philadelphia Department of Health: ‘The non-binding nature is the key.

“We respect the dignity and autonomy of program participants to use funds as they see fit to improve their health and the health of their babies.”

The city’s infant mortality rate is 1.5 times the national average, and black babies are four times more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies.

The program is inspired by similar offerings in other states. In Manitoba, Canada, pregnant women can get up to $81 a month.

Meanwhile, the Abundant Birth Project pilot in San Francisco is making $1,000 a month available to expectant mothers for a year.

The Philadelphia pilot program must meet its $6 million funding goal to begin in 2024.

“Research has shown that assisting pregnant women with cash payments can improve birth outcomes that are associated with infant mortality, including low birth weight and prematurity,” Philadelphia Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said at Monday’s news briefing.

Pennsylvania’s fertility rates are at their lowest in a decade

Philadelphia’s infant mortality rate is rising among Hispanics and Asians

Philadelphia had the highest infant mortality rate in 2017 compared to other major cities and counties in the United States

In 2021, one in 10 babies in Pennsylvania was born prematurely and one in 12 was born with a low birth weight.

A preterm birth is defined as a baby born before 37 weeks, while a low birth weight is one under five pounds.

It comes as Pennsylvania’s fertility rates are at their lowest in a decade.

Over the past 20 years, the decline has been most pronounced among non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders, but fertility rates among non-Hispanic White women have been more stable.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health said the disparities in birth outcomes by race and ethnicity are “wide and alarming.”

More than 15 percent of babies born to non-Hispanic black mothers were low birth weight — 40 percent higher than the city average.

Nearly 15 percent of babies born to non-Hispanic black women were premature, about 30 percent higher than the citywide average.

About 93 percent of Cobbs Creek’s population is black, as is 94 percent of Strawberry Mansion.

As of 2021, 76 percent of Nicetown-Tioga was black, 9 percent Hispanic, and three percent Asian.

One of America’s most devastating statistics is its poor record for infant and maternal mortality.

America is often seen as the benchmark for a nation’s overall development and has a notoriously poor record when it comes to births.

The US suffers 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 births each year — by far the most of any 13 country in the study.

There was also 23.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 births – a staggering figure, ten more than any comparable country.