Maternal Health

Brad Edwards and doula Kyra Betts chat at a Dads to Doulas information session in a birthing suite in Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

A decades-old Missouri law states life begins at conception, which some IVF patients worry puts the procedure at risk. Fertility lawyer Tim Schlesinger said court cases protect the in vitro fertilization, for now.

She traveled to Africa to find her calling. Years later, she’s trained hundreds of doulas.

For every 100,000 births in Missouri between 2017 and 2021, more than 32 people died because of pregnancy-related complications — an average of 70 deaths annually.

Missouri continues to see maternal and infant mortality rates, breast and cervical cancer death rates, preterm births, congenital syphilis and depression around pregnancy at rates that are higher than the national average. It also fared among the worst nationally for mental health.

Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.

An online mom group with over 3,600 members connects over the use of and interest in cannabis and the realities of motherhood.

Jamaa Birth Village in Ferguson and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office are partnering to help St. Louisans understand the importance of Black doulas.

Leaders from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration visited St. Louis University on Wednesday to discuss what federal officials could do to reduce the state’s high rate of maternal and infant deaths. Community health workers, patients and government officials took part in a roundtable at St. Louis University with agency officials from Washington, D.C.

At an event about pregnancy and maternal health convened by the St. Louis Department of Health on Thursday, a panel of health workers said quality pre- and post-natal health care provided by workers beyond clinical health settings is essential to reducing the state’s maternal and infant mortality rates.