It is not a secret that women’s maternal health is a serious problem in the United States, if not the world. According to the World Health Organization, about 260,000 women died during and post pregnancy and childbirth in 2023. Additionally, 92% of all of these maternal deaths occurred in low and lower-middle-income countries, and most could have been prevented.
Regarding the United States specifically, we have the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries– and it has somehow only worsened in recent years. And scarily enough, black women are dying approximately 3x the amount than white women.
It would be easy for me to sit here and continue to type fact after fact and throw out percentage after percentage, however that wouldn’t be addressing the root of the problem. The root of the problem lies in the blatant lack of respect and care for women in our country.
In almost every story regarding maternal health and maternal mortality, there is a common theme: the pregnant mothers felt that there was something wrong with them and knew there was some sort of problem, yet when they told anybody this they were ignored. These issues are fundamentally rooted in our society’s larger misogynistic values.
Furthermore, there is a complete disregard for women who are postpartum– so much so that more than 30% of pregnancy related deaths occur between six weeks and one year after childbirth. There needs to be laws enforcing continuous checking in on postpartum women, rather than just stitching them up and sending them off with a baby in their arms.
An organization working to promote awareness and spread information about maternal health nationwide is Every Mother Counts: https://everymothercounts.org/ Over the years, they have invested over 42 million dollars to the cause.
Everyone came from a woman who was brave enough to go through the process of carrying a child and giving birth. We cannot forget where we came from. Mothers everywhere are in danger, and things need to change.
For further reading about this issue, here the websites I got this information from:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/maternal-mortality