BMHW24 – Reproductive Justice, Black Maternal Health, and the Supreme Court

rePROs Fight Back

April 11-17, 2024, marks Black Maternal Health week. Dr. Monica McLemore, Professor of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing at the University of Washington and Director of the Manning Price Spratlen Center for Anti-Racism and Equity in Nursing sits down to talk with us about the state of maternal morbidity and mortality in the U.S., the upcoming Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) Supreme Court case, and achieving comprehensive reproductive justice.

Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy related case than white women, with the CDC noting that 80% of pregnancy related deaths are preventable. As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear the EMTALA case, which could allow medical professionals to turn those in urgent or emergency need of an abortion away due to “conscience” concerns, maternal mortality and morbidity may increase as abortion becomes increasingly more difficult to access. As the wealthiest nation with the worst maternal health outcomes, the United States has the capacity to recognize the human right to choose if, when, and how to have children, access resources to plan one’s family, parent children in safe and sustainable communities, experience bodily autonomy and sexual pleasure, and provide holistic health care through a reproductive justice lens.

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