Pregnancy

A new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children was underutilized. In 2021, it served only about half the number of those who qualified.

Infant mortality in Missouri went up 16% between 2021 and 2022, according to federal data released earlier this month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Missouri was one of only four states that showed a significant rise.

Between 2018 and 2020, more than 200 women in Missouri died during pregnancy or in the year after giving birth, according to a state health department report released this week. The number of deaths has increased since the 2022 report. The number of deaths from suicide and firearms increased, and Black women were three times as likely to die during or after pregnancy than their white counterparts.

States with abortion bans, like Missouri, are seeing fewer applicants for OB-GYN residencies.

Every state has at least some statute or case law that considers a fetus a person. Missouri is among at least 10 states with personhood language that is so broad it could be interpreted to apply to all civil and criminal laws, according to a report from Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of pregnant people.

Representatives were racing to beat a Friday deadline to get bills out of the chamber, with about two months left in the spring legislative session.

Missouri has a maternal mortality rate of 25.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, higher than the national average. Health professionals worry that the state’s near-total abortion ban will make pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period even more dangerous.

Missouri has one of the nation's highest maternal mortality rates. And yet, it's not among the many states taking advantage of an offer from the federal government to pay for extended Medicaid coverage for postpartum mothers.

Through a combination of quiet singing and gentle touch, music therapy can help ease stress for premature infants.

Throughout the summer, Missouri was an early hotspot for the delta variant of the coronavirus. This led to more unvaccinated young people getting severely ill, and as more young people got sick – more expectant mothers did too.