Food banks in Ohio say proposed cuts to the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants, and Children would be devastating for more than 100,000 Ohioans.
Advocates argue WIC provides critical nutrition benefits, breastfeeding support and other vital services to low-income pregnant and post-partum people – and their children under age five.
Director of Nutrition Policy and Programs with the Ohio Association of Foodbanks Hope Lane-Gavin pointed out that WIC equips new moms and babies with essential items that food banks typically don’t carry, including formula.
“That is a huge hole of the food banks,” said Lane-Gavin. “We just don’t have the infrastructure to support the needs of infants.”
The proposals in both the U.S. House and Senate appropriations bills would result in WIC turning away 600,000 eligible new parents and young children, and would slash benefits for nearly five million people nationwide.
Lane-Gavin said WIC is a key prevention strategy for avoiding poor health outcomes among new moms and babies – including pre-term birth, low birth-weight and postpartum distress.
She warned that waitlists and benefit reductions would impact communities, and also affect related safety-net programs.
“All the other benefits tied to the WIC program – other than the obvious, which is food security,” said Lane-Gavin, “are at risk for these low-income, vulnerable moms, and moms of color.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show maternal deaths in the months after giving birth – which are mostly preventable – are becoming more common, and are already more than three times higher among Black women compared with white women.
This article appears in Dec 6-19, 2023.