In his first budget address to state lawmakers last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro said that “for the first time” the commonwealth is going to put “real resources” into studying the root causes of Pennsylvania’s high maternal mortality rate, which is three times higher for Black women. A 2022 report from the Pennsylvania Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which reviews […]
POV: Overturning Roe v. Wade Will Worsen Health Inequities in All Reproductive Care
The recent national conversation has appropriately focused on the devastating impact of limiting or banning access to abortion care. Conservative estimates show that in the year following the overturning of Roe, at least 75,000 people who want, but cannot get, abortions will give birth instead. And these people are facing higher than ever—and rising—pregnancy-related mortality rates. […]
Report: Black women account for 73% of Philadelphia’s pregnancy-related deaths
A report by the Philadelphia Maternal Mortality Review Committee has found that non-Hispanic Black women made up 43% of births in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2018 but accounted for 73% of the pregnancy-related deaths. The “Improving Outcomes: Maternal Mortality in Philadelphia” report indicates pregnancy-related deaths in the city from 2013 to 2018 was approximately 20 per […]
Maternal mortality rates increased during 1st year of COVID pandemic: CDC
Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. rose during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities that existed before the pandemic were perpetuated, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report looked at data from the CDC’s National Centers for Health Statistics and compared 2020 rates to […]
What We See in the Shameful Trends on U.S. Maternal Health
Compared with its peers, the United States’ trajectory in maternal health has been shameful. Solving this worsening problem requires looking not just at the quality of care a woman receives but the entire environment around her — from her access to health care to the availability of food in her community.
