April 2023 Resources:
Although seeing pregnant women is a normal part of everyday life, being pregnant is a critical time in a woman's health journey. Unfortunately, many women have died during or after giving birth in the United States and around the world. We are sharing maternal mortality rates and birth rate data so you can review the numbers.
There is a documentary titled Aftershock that covers the experiences of two families that lost their family members during or after childbirth, and examines the U.S. maternal mortality rates.
The New York Times published two related articles in late May of 2023
Maternity’s Most Dangerous Time: After New Mothers Come Home - New York Times May 28, 2023
Complications After Delivery: What Women Need to Know - New York Times May 28, 2023
Pregnant people of color in New York City are at greater risk for death and complications related to their pregnancies and births.
Closing the Maternal Mortality Gap and Improving Outcomes for Mothers
In New York City, the maternal mortality rates of Black and Brown Women are 12 times the rate of White women. Maternal and infant health outcomes are impacted by societal and environmental racism that precede and continue into pregnancy. The experience that Black and Brown women face during hospital visits is a vastly different one from the experience of White women. When minority women voice their medical concerns they are not taken seriously, which can be dangerous for mother and baby.
Exploring African Americans High Maternal Infant Death Rates
Cristina Novoa and Jamila Taylor Published: February 1 2018
Black and Brown neighborhoods often face higher exposure to social and environmental stressors including substandard housing and instability, police violence, poor access to adequate nutrition, and poor employment. These stressors cause black and brown women to enter into their pregnancy unhealthier which impact both maternal and infant health.
Births - March of Dimes - Peristats
Center for Disease Control And Prevention - National Center for Health Statistics - Births and Natality - Data are for the U.S.Center for Disease Control And Prevention - National Center for Health Statistics - Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2020
World Health Organization - Maternal Health
World Health Organization - Maternal mortality
Maternal deaths in the U.S. Spiked in 2021, CDC reports, March 16, 202312:02 AM ET, By Selena Simmons-Duffin and Carmel Wroth
“In 2021, the U.S. had one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the country's history, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report found that 1,205 people died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2021. That represents a 40% increase from the previous year.”
Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them by Latoya Hill (Follow @hill_latoya on Twitter), Samantha Artiga (Follow @SArtiga2 on Twitter), and Usha Ranji, Published: Nov 01, 2022
“The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated longstanding disparities in health and health care for people of color, including stark disparities in maternal and infant health. Despite continued advancements in medical care, rates of maternal mortality and morbidity and pre-term birth have been rising in the U.S. Maternal and infant mortality rates in the U.S. are far higher than those in similarly large and wealthy countries, and people of color are at increased risk for poor maternal and infant health outcomes compared to their White peers. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, maternal deaths have continued to rise and racial disparities have further widened.”
Abortion Bans Will Result in More Women Dying, Nov 2, 2022 by Elyssa Spitzer, Tracy Weitz, Maggie Jo Buchanan
Meet the Artist: Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee on "Aftershock"
Closing the Maternal Mortality Gap and Improving Outcomes for Mothers
In New York City, the maternal mortality rates of Black and Brown Women are 12 times the rate of White women. Maternal and infant health outcomes are impacted by societal and environmental racism that precede and continue into pregnancy. The experience that Black and Brown women face during hospital visits is a vastly different one from the experience of White women. When minority women voice their medical concerns they are not taken seriously, which can be dangerous for mother and baby.
Exploring African Americans High Maternal Infant Death Rates
Cristina Novoa and Jamila Taylor Published: February 1 2018
Black and Brown neighborhoods often face higher exposure to social and environmental stressors including substandard housing and instability, police violence, poor access to adequate nutrition, and poor employment. These stressors cause black and brown women to enter into their pregnancy unhealthier which impact both maternal and infant health.