maternal health

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.

Birthing centers, which offer natural, low-intervention births to low-risk moms, are becoming more and more popular. But regardless of demand, they’re struggling to stay open.

The rule, which will last for six months, was a response to "an immediate danger to the public health, safety or welfare of pregnant women in Missouri," according to the state Department of Social Services. Missouri has some of the worst maternal mortality rates in the U.S.

Many of the people in Kansas who are homeless do have an income, but housing is simply too expensive to afford a place to live. Plus: Missouri law doesn't clearly IVF, so what's the risk of the procedure being outlawed?

For every 100,000 births in Missouri between 2017 and 2021, more than 32 people died because of pregnancy-related complications — an average of 70 deaths annually.

Before she died in March after giving birth to a stillborn daughter, Krystal Anderson touched hundreds, if not thousands of lives. She was a former Chiefs cheerleader, influential in her career in health technology and a loving friend, wife and daughter. But for Black women like her, the risk of dying of pregnancy-related causes is greater than for white women.

Krystal Anderson died in March after giving birth to a stillborn daughter. For Black women like her, the risk of dying of pregnancy-related causes is greater than for white women.

Doulas help new and expecting families navigate pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Studies show their intervention improves maternal health outcomes.

Fewer medical school graduates are seeking training to become OB-GYNs in Missouri following the state’s abortion ban. How could this impact maternal health care in a state where there’s already a shortage?