Rides for Pregnant Moms to Give Babies a Healthier Start

The Challenge

For many pregnant women in Washington, D.C., transportation can be a significant barrier to attending their recommended prenatal care appointments. This situation has been exacerbated by COVID-19, due to concerns about the risk of public transportation, cuts in public transit service, and the challenge of social distancing in a vehicle.

Our Approach

We are partnering with ride-sharing service Uber and two federally qualified health centers, Community of Hope and Mary’s Center, to provide their clients with free, on-demand transportation to and from their prenatal appointments in a program called Rides for Moms.

Key Results

Through our Rides for Moms pilot, we seek to answer these questions:

• Is a ride-sharing service such as Uber a feasible way to provide transportation for pregnant women to prenatal appointments?
• Will the availability of rides improve these women’s attendance at prenatal appointments?
• How do these women feel ride-sharing compares to their other transportation options for prenatal appointments?

Washington, D.C., has some of the United States’ highest rates of maternal and infant mortality.The maternal mortality rate is 36.1 per 100,000 live births, almost twice the national average, while the infant mortality rate is 7.8 per 1,000 live births as of 2018 which is also higher than the national average. Research has shown that timely and adequate prenatal care can improve outcomes for mothers and babies, but we also know that many women find transportation a major barrier to obtaining that care.

COVID-19 has made this situation even more challenging for low-income women. Public transit service has been reduced, space on busses is limited due to social distancing requirements, and some stations have even been closed. Even rides from friends or family members may no longer be an option; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider pregnant women a high-risk group and urge them to take extra precautions to avoid contracting the disease. 

We want to see if offering a more flexible, private, and free transportation option might help these women overcome this obstacle and result in healthier moms and babies. Previous studies suggest that providing ride-sharing services are associated with a higher likelihood of pregnant women attending prenatal appointments, so we decided to test that option in Washington. 

Working with ride-sharing service Uber and nonprofit organizations Community of Hope and Mary’s Center, we have arranged to offer approximately 750 pregnant women free transportation to and from their prenatal appointments. Women could either receive vouchers for Uber rides through their existing Uber account, or pre-scheduled rides via Uber Health for those who do not have Uber accounts. 

Ideally, this intervention will increase these women’s attendance at prenatal appointments. While experts recommend pregnant women have 10 to 15 prenatal visits, depending on their pregnancy, Community of Hope clients have an average of just five. 

We also want to know whether women like the ride-sharing service and how it compares to their other transportation options for prenatal visits. 

We are also assessing the viability of this Rides for Moms intervention for now and in the future. While COVID-19 has heightened transportation barriers for receiving prenatal care, this challenge existed before the pandemic and will continue to do so when this crisis subsides. Offering new, customer-centric ways to support women seeking prenatal care has the potential to save the lives of these mothers and their babies.