To reproductive justice activist Renee Bracey Sherman, theirs are the forgotten names. Women like Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old medical assistant from Georgia, who suffered a rare complication from a medication abortion in August 2022 and died after waiting 20 hours for an emergency surgery to remove fetal tissue from her body. Thurman’s physicians worried that […]
Maternal Health
In-depth reporting from Capital B on how changing laws, health care access, climate, and social conditions are shaping pregnancy, childbirth, and life after birth.
Posted inMaternal Health, Partner Content, Rural Issues
Maternity Care in Rural Areas Is in Crisis. Can More Doulas Help?
This article was published by KFF Health News. When Bristeria Clark went into labor with her son in 2015, her contractions were steady at first. Then, they stalled. Her cervix stopped dilating. After a few hours, doctors at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia, prepped Clark for an emergency cesarean section. It wasn’t the […]
Posted inClimate Change, Extreme Weather, Health, Maternal Health, Partner Content
‘How Did We Miss This for So Long?’: The Link Between Extreme Heat and Preterm Birth
This story was originally published by Grist. This story is part of the series “Expecting Worse: Giving Birth on a Planet in Crisis,” a collaboration between Grist, Vox, and The 19th that investigates how climate change impacts reproductive health — from menstruation to conception to birth. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. When Rupa Basu was […]
Posted inMaternal Health
Black Artists Respond to Increased Restrictions on Reproductive Rights
It took years for Beverly McIver to come back to the photo she snapped at the North Carolina Museum of Art. A woman had walked by completely naked, coated with black paint and outlines of flowers down her body. She was blending into the painting behind her. McIver, stunned in that moment, didn’t know that […]
Posted inMaternal Health, Partner Content, Politics & Policy
There’s a Renewed Push in Congress for Medicaid to Cover Doulas and Midwives
Originally published by The 19th Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, both Democrats, are introducing legislation Thursday that would allow Medicaid coverage of doulas and midwives. The bill, called the Mamas First Act, aims to “improve access to care before, during, and after pregnancy to under-served and under-resourced communities” as […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health
The Maternal Mortality Rate Dipped For Black Women. The Reason Is Complicated.
After a sharp rise in the number of women dying in childbirth, which was likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new data shows that the mortality rate is returning to pre-coronavirus levels and the racial disparities in who’s most likely to die remain. The rate for 2022 was 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, a […]
Posted inMaternal Health, Reproductive Health
What Comes Next in the Battle for Emergency Abortion Care Access
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the media flooded with cases of women who had been denied abortion care during emergency situations, putting their lives at risk. Whether pregnant patients have the constitutional right to abortion care when their health is severely at risk is at the heart of Idaho […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health, Partner Content
‘She Made Me Feel Seen and Heard.’ Black Doulas Offer Birth Support and Care to Improve Health of Moms and Babies.
This story was reported and published by MindSite News, a nonprofit news site that reports on mental health. Sign up for the MindSite News Daily newsletter here. Jacquesta Michel’s baby shower was supposed to be themed around her favorite Disney movie, The Lion King. Then her blood pressure spiked. Instead of dancing and eating Simba […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health
Will the FDA-Approved Blood Test for Preeclampsia Decrease Maternal Deaths?
The recently approved test that can predict which pregnant patients are at risk for developing severe preeclampsia is a promising step, Black doctors and midwives say, but there are limitations. “It’s definitely a welcomed tool, so we are hopeful,” said Dr. Garfield Clunie, president of the National Medical Association, which represents Black doctors. “The pause […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health
Tori Bowie’s Death Shows the Severity of Our Maternal Mortality Crisis
Three-time Olympic champion Tori Bowie’s death from childbirth complications underscores the alarming reality that Black women are more likely to face the worst pregnancy-related outcomes in the U.S., regardless of socioeconomic status. Bowie was found dead in her home in Winter Garden, Florida, in May. She was estimated to be eight months pregnant and in […]