Midwives and the U.S.

As a childfree/childless adult, giving birth is not something that I think about a lot on a personal level, but it is something that most of my clients, many of my friends and family will at some point do, if they have not already. In college, my friends and I watched The Business of Being

“In 21st-Century America, no woman should die in childbirth.” … But they do

“Maternity care desert is is where there is limited access for women who are pregnant.”  Access to health care is not just as simple as facilities being open. The distance someone has to travel to get to that facility also matters. The people who live in “Maternity Desert” in Washington , D.C. are predominantly African American,

Links Roundup: Racial Disparities in Maternal Mortality

Higher rates of maternal death among Black women in the US have been evident in research for a long time but have lately gotten a lot more mainstream coverage. The increase in coverage is important to raising awareness and implementing changes in health care that would improve outcomes, but it has unfortunately come out of

Pop Public Health: “The Pill”

Country legend Loretta Lynn married at 15 and had 4 children before age 20. (And a few years later had twins!) Her musical success in the 1950s and 60s was a triumph for women, who had few country icons. Many of Lynn’s most successful songs discussed her family life, motherhood, and being a real country

What is Reproductive Coercion?

Reproductive Coercion is getting some surprise attention this week after actors Nikki Reed and Ian Somerhalder went on Dr Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcast and related their pregnancy story with a few red flags. (Note: Dr. Berlin is a prenatal chiropractor, chiropractors are not medical doctors.) I’ve linked the podcast so you can listen for yourself

Mapping Abortion Access

This visual representation of abortion access in the USA from The Pudding is really fantastic and informative –albeit depressing. Since 1973, abortion has been legal (up to the third trimester of pregnancy) following the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that asserted that pregnancy termination is part of a pregnant person’s right to privacy.

Links Roundup: The Wellness Industry

Maybe I’m the target demo, but wellness seems pretty inescapable right now. In the context of the “wellness industry” that is primarily marketed toward women, wellness is not just personal health but also a kind of moral superiority. The idea of wellness that is sold by Goop, fitness influencers and celebrity chefs on Instagram is a

Links Roundup: Opioid Addiction

Opioid abuse is a growing epidemic in the United States, and frequently makes headlines. I think it’s particularly hard to get nuanced stories about the opioid epidemic because drug use is highly stigmatized and many journalists, even sympathetic ones, frequently write stories pumped with *shocking* details and descriptions, which is less humanizing than what they’re