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The Missouri House advanced a bill that would prevent pregnant inmates in their third trimester from being restrained, except under extraordinary circumstances. The bill would also create certain health care requirements for pregnant inmates and reverse the prohibition on nonviolent drug offenders receiving SNAP benefits.
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Doulas and birth centers are considered part of the solution to Missouri’s "unacceptable" maternal mortality crisis. But current law makes it difficult to help mothers most in need, because many doulas aren't eligible for Medicaid reimbursements.
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En los estados centrales de Estados Unidos, la información acerca de las tasas de mortalidad materna entre las mujeres hispanas no es fiable. Eso es un desafío para las organizaciones de salud que dependen de esas estadísticas para enviar recursos a esa población.
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In Missouri and Nebraska, information about maternal mortality rates among Hispanic women is not reliable. That’s a challenge for health care organizations that depend on those statistics to send resources to that population.
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In Missouri, a child must be born before a divorce can be finalized, and advocates fear this can keep people in domestic violence situations from being able to leave their abusers. Representative Ashley Aune of Kansas City introduced a bill earlier this February that would undo the statute.
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Many hospitals are shuttering their labor and delivery units because insurance companies and Medicaid aren't reimbursing hospitals enough to cover the cost of births.
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Abortion is still legal in Kansas, with restrictions — but abortion opponents want Kansas lawmakers to enact laws to support anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers and put parents on the hook for child support starting at conception. We'll break down those and other reproductive policies working their way through the legislature this session.
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Abortion opponents want the Kansas Legislature to increase funding for anti-abortion counseling centers, begin child support at conception and ask more questions of abortion patients.
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"It’s more like gambling than it is health care," said one woman about infertility treatments, "because you’re wagering significant amounts of money... and you might come out with nothing."
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Jamaa Birth Village plans to open satellite midwifery birthing locations across Missouri next year. Patients can receive midwifery and doula care and social support services in areas with few options for maternity care.
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The number of severe complications during labor and delivery has increased for Kansas moms. For moms of color or women enrolled in Medicaid, complications are even more common. One of the state’s Medicaid contractors is now covering doula services as a way to help.
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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 people that qualified.