Stock photo by AntoineLanz from Pixabay
When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, perinatal care providers braced themselves for a surge in pregnancy-related mortality. A total abortion ban has been predicted to result in a 20% increase in the rates of pregnancy-related mortality overall and a 30% increase for Black birthing people. But pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. have been on the rise for at least 30 years. KPFA’s Lauren Shapiro filed this report with a look at why.
Just a quick note: pregnancy-related deaths impact all people who give birth – whether they’re cisgender women or transgender or non-binary people. We’ll use gender inclusive language where possible, but a lot of the data uses gender-specific terms like “maternal mortality” and “mothers,” which is retained in the story.
This story first aired on UpFront on September 14, 2022.
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RESOURCES
- More information on Kira Johnson’s story and Charles Johnson’s advocacy work: https://4kira4moms.com/
- Resources provided by the Hear Her Campaign: https://www.cdc.gov/HearHer/
- Details on benefits offered by the CA Momnibus Act: https://bwwactionproject.org/ca-momnibus-benefits/
- More information on and a link to apply to the Abundant Birth Project: https://www.expectingjustice.org/about-abp/
- More information on and a link to apply to the EMBRACE program at UCSF: https://womenshealth.ucsf.edu/coe/embrace-perinatal-care-black-families