maternal health

The number of women over 40 having babies is increasing nationwide, even as the overall birth rate declines. Plus, a nonprofit food distributor created its own free marketplace to tackle hunger across the country.

In Kansas and nationwide, the number of women having babies in their 40s is increasing. It comes as the overall birth rate declines and younger women are having fewer babies.

The Kansas City community health clinic will throw a ribbon cutting on November 7 to open its new pediatric wing. The space will focus on preventative care for mothers and children, and reflects the priorities of its namesake, Samuel Rodgers.

Missouri's health department found that the vast majority of maternal deaths were preventable, and resulted from a lack of care in the months after birth. Cardiologist Dr. Anna Grodzinsky navigated her own high-risk pregnancies, and she explains what our medical system is missing.

Between 1999 and 2019, the increase in Indigenous pregnant women dying in Kansas was among the worst in the country. Kansas women are training more doulas to help expecting Native moms through pregnancy and birth.

The planned closure follows the shutdown of Providence Medical Service’s labor and delivery program, and will expand the area of the Kansas City metro without maternal care services.

A Jackson County Circuit Court judge blocked enforcement last week of nearly all Missouri laws that restrict abortion, ruling the 2024 passage of Amendment 3 enshrined the right to an abortion in the state constitution. Missouri has already started and stopped abortion services several times this year as legal battles continue.

Missouri's Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review Board found that 350 women died while pregnant or up to a year postpartum between 2018 and 2022. The report found that 80% of those deaths were preventable.

Through a new partnership with Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center, a rural maternal health clinic will bring doula services to Kansas City’s Westside.

The legislation, which state Rep. Jim Murphy called "a pro-life bill that everybody agrees with," also expands tax credits for maternity homes and diaper banks and creates a "Zero-Cost Adoption Fund."

In-clinic abortion care has returned to Columbia after a long hiatus. KBIA’s Rebecca Smith takes us on a tour behind the scenes of central Missouri's Planned Parenthood health clinic.

Natural birth centers that aren’t affiliated with hospitals are becoming more popular, but patients across the Kansas City area are left with few options after a local center closed. Plus: Kernza is a relatively new grain with a budding future as a sustainable crop, but it's struggling to find a market.