The stories, aired and published from 2017 through mid-2018, has been credited with inspiring laws in several states, as well as bills at the federal level aimed at protecting birthing mothers. In a 2018 Forbes op-ed arguing for a federal law to end America’s “maternal death epidemic,” Senator Tammy Duckworth cited the NPR/ProPublica investigation "Lost Mothers". Duckworth also linked directly to Montagne’s NPR story on how California succeeded in cutting in half its maternal mortality rate. On 12/21/2018 HR 1318 “Preventing Maternal Deaths Act” was signed into law – a law that incorporated the Senate bill Duckworth had championed in the op-ed.