mortality

Midwife Stephanie Mitchell speaks at the Mothers of Gynecology monument in Montgomery, Ala., in August 2023. Mitchell is trying to open a birth center in Alabama and has sued the state. Supporters say such centers could improve birth outcomes in the South, which has some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the country. (Anna Claire Vollers/Stateline)

Hospitals block much-needed birth centers in the South

BY: - August 14, 2023

When Katie Chubb announced in 2021 she was planning to open a freestanding birth center in Augusta, Georgia, it seemed like everybody in town was excited about it. She met with local physicians and nurses who said they would welcome her Augusta Birth Center as a provider of midwifery services for low-risk pregnancies. Hundreds of […]

Members of a clean-up crew remove belongings that have been left behind by occupants as the National Park Service clears the homeless encampment at McPherson Square on Feb. 15, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said that when cities force unhoused people to move out of encampments, they’re putting their health at risk. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

High mortality rate of homeless highlighted in new report

BY: - April 9, 2023

Barb Anderson, director of Haven House in Jeffersonville, Indiana, works with homeless people to place them into housing. It’s a job that has shown her firsthand the severe health issues facing unhoused people in southern Indiana, where many people live in tents in the woods and under bridges.  She is currently working with an older […]

Black woman holding newborn baby in hospital bed

Postpartum Medicaid expansion is the first step to maternal health equity, experts say 

BY: - March 29, 2023

Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States: 43.5 deaths from 2018 to 2021 for every 100,000 live births, according to the latest federal data. But the state only extends postpartum Medicaid to 60 days after childbirth.  A bill by Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, aims to change that and would seek to […]

A man on a boat with a wind turbine in the background.

Wind and whales: ‘No evidence’ links projects to deaths

BY: - March 6, 2023

The U.S. offshore wind power industry is in its infancy, with just a handful of turbines installed along the Atlantic coast. But they’re already being blamed for the deaths of whales that have washed up on beaches in New Jersey, New York, Virginia and elsewhere.  A Fox News story on Feb. 13 made strenuous attempts […]