California is now the front line of America’s maternal mortality crisis

By Sylvia Ghazarian
April 19, 2026

California has become a refuge for reproductive care, but it’s now absorbing the consequences of a national public health failure. The United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high-income countries, and it’s only getting worse.

A growing body of research shows that abortion bans are driving this crisis, increasing preventable deaths, especially among communities already burdened by systemic inequities. The Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), a national abortion fund headquartered in Los Angeles, is witnessing this surge firsthand, as more patients cross state lines and require financial support to access even the most basic, time-sensitive care.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-04-19/california-maternal-mortality-crisis

19.04.2026

Commentary

black maternal mortality

Gender Equity Policy Institute

maternal mortality

Sylvia Ghazarian

Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project

Black Maternal Health Week Isn’t Complete Without Our Abortion Stories

This Black Maternal Health Week, our abortion stories are essential—without them, neither progress nor celebration is complete.

By Ambreia Meadows-Fernandez
April 15, 2026

Long before I understood the systemic consequences of abortion stigma on Black women and girls, I felt its harm. I had an abortion after an unintended pregnancy at 17. The would-be father’s hateful email, the crisis pregnancy center’s insistence that I give birth, and the protestors at the clinic suggested I’d proven that the most dangerous place for a Black child was in the womb. The resulting shame followed me. Even after I’d finished college, gotten married, and given birth to my first child, abortion stigma wasn’t done with me.

After delivery, an emergency room visit revealed retained placenta tissue as the cause of my low milk supply, weakness, and intense bleeding. Nearly six weeks after delivery, I received a positive pregnancy test and needed a Dilation and Curettage (D&C). The medical team said that the procedure helped save my life and avoid infection.

Continued: https://www.essence.com/health-and-wellness/abortion-black-maternal-health/

A Public Health Emergency: How Abortion Bans Are Fueling Maternal Deaths in America

People living in states that have banned abortion are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after compared with those in states where abortion remains legal and accessible.

Sylvia Ghazarian, Common Dreams
Apr 10, 2026

The maternal mortality crisis in the United States is a national embarrassment, and it’s unfolding in real time. The US continues to have one of the highest maternal death rates among high-income countries, and the situation is getting worse, not better. Behind this trend is a growing body of research showing that state abortion bans directly contribute to increased maternal mortality, especially in communities already burdened by systemic inequities.

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abortion-bans-public-health

USA – Abortion Saved Her. Now It Could Cost Her Freedom.

As the Trump administration cuts funding for Planned Parenthood, one court offers Black Women in the South a legal lifeline.

by Angela Dennis
April 21, 2025

Kneeling on the cold bathroom floor of her apartment, Kisha clutched the pregnancy test she had just picked up from the Walgreens down the street. She waited for a single blue line to appear. Instead, there were two.

“When I looked down at that test, I didn’t believe it,” she said. “I told myself there was just no way. This can’t be happening to me.”

She was pregnant at 41 years old.

Continued: https://capitalbnews.org/planned-parenthood-cuts-trump-black-women-abortion-bans/

My Abortion Was My Lifeline—Getting It Felt Like A Battle For Survival

Taren Holliman
April 17, 2025

As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted an abortion. The immediate decision didn't come from fear or confusion; it came from clarity. I was too sick to work, constantly running out of my classes to throw up and juggling multiple jobs to stay afloat. Behind all of that was a mental health battle I'd been quietly fighting for years, and I didn't have access to the support I needed. There was no way I could carry this pregnancy to term—and, more importantly, I didn't want to. It was my body. It was my life, and I made my decision. It really should have been that simple. But almost immediately, I learned how hard it was to access abortion care.

This is America, after all — where racist, sexist policies are so deeply embedded into our institutions that they shape who gets access to essential care and who gets left behind. And for folks most impacted by systemic inequities—like disparities in income, health insurance and medical racism—no one is facing the brunt of these bans and restrictions like Black women.

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/black-maternal-health-abortion-access

Study Finds 16% Increased Infant Mortality in States that Restrict Abortion

The study also found that the mortality rate for Black infants was more than twice that of white infants.

By Zane McNeill , TRUTHOUT
October 18, 2023

States with abortion restrictions suffer a 16 percent increase in infant mortality rate, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

“What’s also notable is that the data is pre-Dobbs — it came from 2014–2018. That means these numbers are likely to get much, much worse,” abortion advocate Jessica Valenti said.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/study-finds-16-increased-infant-mortality-in-states-that-restrict-abortion/

SUPREME COURT’S ABORTION RULING DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS BLACK PEOPLE WITH LOW INCOMES IN THE DEEP SOUTH

May 05, 2023
Rhonda Sonnenberg

Even before Alauni took an at-home pregnancy test just four weeks after a single instance of unplanned sexual activity, she knew it would be positive.

The 24-year-old Texas college student – a single, working mother of three children under the age of 6, one of whom is autistic – immediately felt the familiar signs of her pregnancies. She had intended to buy the Plan B “morning after” pill, but was in the process of moving to another city and hadn’t yet secured new housing.

Continued: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2023/05/05/supreme-courts-abortion-ruling-affects-black-people-low-incomes

USA – Opinion: Mifepristone saved my life

by Roxanne Jones
Tue April 18, 2023

The ruling earlier this month by a Texas federal judge to suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a drug that is used frequently for medication abortions, is very personal for me.

That’s because I took mifepristone years ago during a miscarriage, and it saved my life. When I was prescribed mifepristone, it had not yet taken center stage in America’s abortion wars. I did not have to make a rushed road trip across state lines to get my medicine, unlike many women who need the drug but live in one of the many states that have restricted access to medication abortion or passed near-total bans on abortion.

Continued; https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/18/opinions/medication-abortion-mifepristone-miscarriage-jones-ctpr/index.html

18.04.2023

Opinion

abortion pills

black maternal mortality

life-saving abortion

mifepristone

miscarriage management

USA – How anti-abortion laws impact the Black community

With some of the highest maternal death rates in the nation, Black pregnant people face extreme impacts on their health, particularly those in states with restrictive abortion bans.

By Rebekah Sager
April 17, 2023

When the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization last June, overturning Roe v. Wade and ending federal constitutional affirmation of the right to abortion, medical experts and pro-abortion activists working in the Black maternal health community say, they knew the result could be dire.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black pregnant people are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white pregnant people. And Black infants are nearly four times as likely to die during birth as white infants, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health reports.

Continued: https://americanindependent.com/anti-abortion-laws-black-pregnancy-mifepristone-supreme-court-maternal-infant-death-health-care/

Abortion ruling means more and riskier births in Mississippi

Oct. 24, 2022
By MICHAEL GOLDBERG, The Associated Press

GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — In Mississippi, where health officials expect 5,000 more births each year as a result of the Supreme Court ruling upending abortion rights, children are more likely to die before their first birthday than in any other state.

Mississippi has the nation’s highest fetal mortality rate, highest infant mortality rate, highest pre-term birth rate and is among the worst states for maternal mortality. Black women are nearly three times more likely to die due to childbirth than white women in Mississippi.

Continued: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/abortion-ruling-means-more-and-riskier-births-in-mississippi/