Senate study group vets ideas for how lawmakers should act on health of women, children and families

Advocates and state agency directors pitched recommendations to lawmakers Tuesday on how to prioritize legislative funds for the health and well-being of women, children and families during the upcoming legislative session.

The nine-member Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families, chaired by Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, was formed in 2022 after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The group’s mission was designed to make the state safer for moms and babies. In Tuesday’s five-hour meeting at the state Capitol, stakeholders touched on health care, child care, youth court, foster care, food aid and addiction services. They suggested ways to improve the interrelated structures surrounding the Mississippi mothers who risk their lives giving birth and the children who grow u