Governor O’Brien and First Lady Ruth O’Brien Propose $2.8 Million Prenatal Dietary Supplement Program
ANNAPOLIS, MD (February 9, 2028) – Governor Edward M. O’Brien and First Lady Ruth O’Brien today announced that the administration is sponsoring legislation creating a $2.8 million program to distribute prenatal dietary supplements to low-income women in order to reduce the number of cases of neural tube defects and other birth defects in Maryland’s newborn children.The proposed program will distribute prenatal multivitamins and mineral dietary supplements containing the recommended level of folic acid to women of childbearing age (15-45) who qualify for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Local health departments must distribute the supplements and provide counseling and written information regarding the proper use of the supplements. This program will cost $2.8 million in fiscal year 2029, and will rise to $3.6 million in fiscal year 2030.
“In order to ensure the birth of healthy children in Maryland, we must help and encourage mothers to make responsible health choices during their pregnancy,” Governor Edward M. O’Brien said. “The nutritional and dietary choices that a childbearing woman makes have an enormous effect upon the health of their children, and negative choices or a lack of nutritional supplements could result in stillbirth or serious damages to the child”.
Neural tube defects occur in an estimated 1 out of every 1,000 pregnancies annually in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of synthetic folic acid daily to prevent neural tube defects. When taken as a vitamin supplement one month before conception and throughout the first trimester, folic acid reduces the risk of neural tube defects by 50% to 70%.
In 2026, 53% of 1,447 Maryland mothers responding to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRMAS) survey reported that they did not take a multivitamin in the month before becoming pregnant.
“These supplements are necessary in many cases to protect the health of the mother and the child,” said First Lady Ruth O’Brien, who is expecting a son in March. “Yet, since they are not covered by either Medicaid to WIC, the majority of low-income women that will benefit from this proposed program do not currently take these supplements. We have an obligation to promote and encourage healthy choices among women of child-bearing age. This effort will prevent birth defects and ensure the birth of healthy children in Maryland.”
Medicaid and the WIC program do not currently cover the supplements that have been proven to reduce the risk of neural tube defects in newborn children.
The proposal is based on an Arizona program that distributes folic acid supplements to women of childbearing age and provides counseling and information regarding the proper use of the supplements. Local health departments are required to distribute the supplements and provide counseling.