Maternal Health

With the built-in injustices of the US health care system on full display as COVID-19 ravages communities, imagine that Switzerland, France, and Spain—which all fare better in health system efficiency—band together to redesign US health care.

For years, Texas laws have scaled back access to low-cost abortion and reproductive health services, making access increasingly difficult for Latinx women.   For much of April, the state had a near-total ban on abortions, deemed “non-essential” amid the pandemic.     The…

Sri Lanka has some of the most restrictive abortion laws anywhere, permitting the procedure only if the mother’s life is in danger. But hundreds of women still undergo the procedure every day.   The outsize influence of the Catholic church is one reason for the stigma…

Clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines haven't tested candidates in pregnant women, a common practice rooted in safety concerns.   But with a vaccine this badly needed, there’s also an argument that they should be included earlier to ensure all the necessary safety and…

In the US—where Black women die during childbirth at 3–4X the rate of white women—it’s perhaps no surprise that discrimination against people of color giving birth has been exacerbated by the pandemic.  

In a win for abortion rights advocates, the US Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana law barring facilities from performing abortions unless they had admitting privileges at a nearby hospital—which many abortion clinics do not.   Critics say the law would have ultimately…

The Chinese government has sustained a draconian forced birth control campaign aimed at limiting Muslim minority populations—such as Uighurs—while encouraging members of the Han majority to have larger families, an AP investigation found.   Over the past 4 years, the…

"Infertility in low-income countries is a neglected reproductive health issue, despite its staggering impact," wrote Marie Thoma, PhD, MHS, nominating it for Global Health NOW's annual Untol

Laboring women in Venezuela are forced to travel from hospital to hospital in a cruel game of “roulette,” desperate to find a facility equipped to deliver their baby. If that doesn’t happen in time, they deliver on the street or in facility lobbies—mothers and babies have…

COVID-19’s multiple frontlines now include at least 46 countries across the African continent. Many, including Ethiopia, have frontline health care facilities battling without one of the most critical tools: adequate water and sanitation.