A Matter of Life & Death – “Leading Edge” segment on PBS News Hour

PBS News Hour
April 18, 2018
Judy Woodruff and Amna Nawaz, PBS News Hour
Linda Villarosa, contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine
Monica Simpson, executive director of Sistersong
Photographs by LaToya Ruby Frazier

Why are black mothers and infants far more likely to die in U.S. from pregnancy-related causes?

Judy Woodruff:

The United States has a problem with maternal mortality, and it’s one that’s been getting worse.

The U.S. is one of only 13 countries where the death rate is worse now than it was 25 years ago, and among the worst of wealthiest countries in the world. Between 700 and 900 American women die each year from problems related to pregnancy, childbirth or complications up to a year later.

There are as many as 50,000 cases annually where women face dangerous and even life-threatening situations.

As part of our ongoing series Race Matters, Amna Nawaz looks at why it is dramatically worse among African-American women.

It’s the focus of this week’s segment the Leading Edge.

Amna Nawaz:

And the statistics are stunning. Black infants are more than twice as likely to die than white infants, a racial disparity that is wider today than in 1850, 15 years before the end of slavery. And black women are three to four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.

For a closer look at what’s behind those numbers, we turn to Linda Villarosa. Her in-depth report on the subject ran in “The New York Times Magazine.” And Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, the country’s largest organization dedicated to reproductive justice for women of color. In 2014, she testified before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Linda and Monica, welcome to the “NewsHour.”

Watch the segment or read the full transcript

Courtesy of: PBS News Hour