Infant mortality rates in the U.S. are consistently higher than other wealthy nations. Research suggests our lack of paid family leave is one big reason why.
Women's and Maternal Health
Much of rural Texas is a maternity care desert with few doctors to deliver babies. In some other states, licensed midwives fill in to handle uncomplicated births. But roadblocks limit their practice here.
Two Texas hospitals performed episiotomies at rates four to six times the recommended level last year. But women giving birth should know: You have the final say.
Whether a woman delivers by cesarean has less to do with her health than the hospital she goes to. Case in point: Doctors Hospital of Laredo, where rates of surgical intervention during childbirth are way above the norm. Experts say something isn’t right.
This story was produced as a larger project by Valeria Fernandez for the 2020 National Fellowship, which focuses on how indigenous, immigrant communities and people of color have been organizing before and during the pandemic in communities of care to find support and healing....
As the Supreme Court considers a challenge to the landmark law, a new study reveals important benefits for low-income women.
Like many expectant mothers, Renee Schoolfield had worries and questions about her baby’s health. But her pregnancy was partly shadowed by her experiences in 2018, when she lost two children months apart shortly after they were born.
Pregnant women afflicted with COVID-19 face potentially terrifying ordeals, especially when the pregnancy is already high-risk.
“It's overwhelming,” one diaper bank director said. “We're trying to do the best we can.”
This week we’re at home with Alexius Hill, a Memphis-based young mother who chose to give birth at home despite her family and friends’ concerns about doing so. We discuss the stigma around home births and explore the radical work of full-spectrum doulas.