Health Equity
Maternal health outcomes: community clinics versus hospital systems
The question is not simply whether community clinics or hospitals deliver better maternal health outcomes. For many patients, especially those living…
Section
Health Equity
Deep dives into the policies, medical science, and personal choices shaping this vital area of healthcare.
Health Equity
Maternal health data: a roadmap for community advocates
Maternal health data can show where care is failing, but only if advocates can interpret the numbers, identify what they leave out, and connect them…
Health Equity
Pregnancy in prison: healthcare rights and advocacy options
When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Estelle v. Gamble in 1976, it drew a clear legal line: correctional authorities owe the people in their custody…
Health Equity
LGBTQ family building: four paths to parenthood
There is no single route to LGBTQ family building, and the differences are not merely medical. Donor insemination, in vitro fertilization, reciprocal…
Health Equity
Transgender fertility care: bypassing insurance coverage traps
Transgender fertility preservation is often treated as a personal medical choice. Insurance systems frequently treat it as something else: a…
Health Equity
Black maternal health care plan: patient advocacy steps
A Black maternal health care plan cannot stop at prenatal appointment schedules and a hospital bag checklist. It has to account for a documented gap…
Health Equity
Doula care prep: what to ask before hiring a birth advocate
The numbers tell a story that does not need translation. According to the 2018 Listening to Mothers in California survey, 66% of Black women and 56%…
Health Equity
Medical interpreter rights in reproductive healthcare
More than a million Latinas living in U.S. states where abortion is restricted or banned report speaking little to no English. They are part of…
Health Equity
Indian Health Service reproductive care: what is covered?
American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) birthing people face roughly twice the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality compared with white…
Health Equity
Maternity care in rural areas: three path options
For more than two million women of reproductive age in the United States, getting maternity care can mean traveling across county lines before a…
Health Equity
Hospital charity care: avoiding reproductive billing traps
A reproductive healthcare bill can become unaffordable for reasons that have little to do with the care itself. The hospital may approve financial…
Health Equity
Prenatal care for undocumented patients: clinic options
If you are pregnant and do not have legal status in the United States, the federal government has made one thing clear since 1996: routine prenatal…
Health Equity
Medicaid doula benefits: avoiding out-of-pocket traps
Medicaid doula coverage has expanded rapidly, but enrollment in a benefit does not automatically translate into an available doula, a timely first…
Health Equity
LGBTQ fertility insurance: how to avoid coverage traps
For many LGBTQ+ people, the first barrier to fertility care is not a medical diagnosis. It is the wording of an insurance policy.