Also, pandemic stimulus funds miss many vulnerable Americans, and a fresh focus on COVID-created pregnancy complications.
More than 2 million women live in counties with no birth center or other obstetric care. A ban on abortion could mean greater health risks for them.
A growing number of women are facing criminal charges for substance use during pregnancy in Oklahoma. Experts and health care providers say that’s bad for moms and babies.
Moms talk about what it’s like to be pregnant in jail, and about their lives before and after incarceration.
Black Oklahomans are 50% more likely than white Oklahomans to die from maternity-related complications. Black babies in Oklahoma are almost 2.5 times more likely than white babies to die before their first birthday.
While progress to address poor birth outcomes among Black Oklahomans has been slow, women are taking action themselves.
In the third part of this multi-part series, we look at some of the ways in which the process of diversion can jump the rails.
Disabled people get pregnant and give birth at the same rates as nondisabled ones. But their outcomes are often far worse, and modern medicine has largely turned its back on them.
In the second part of this multi-part series, we explore, step-by-step, the process for diverting pregnant people out of LA County’s women’s jail, moving them into housing and toward independence.