Mothers

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.

Oscarina gave birth to her son without her husband after he was deported from Missouri months earlier. Advocates, activists and attorneys say many undocumented mothers are foregoing medical care out of fear of being detained and deported.

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.

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.

Breastfeeding is more of a challenge for first-time mothers in rural Missouri compared to those in urban and suburban areas, according to a new University of Missouri study.

A disruption to in vitro fertilization in Alabama has some Kansans worried their rights could be under threat, as experts raise questions about "fetal personhood" in state law. Plus: Midwife Clarisa Evans started her Kansas City practice to empower all members of an expecting family from pregnancy through postpartum.

Midwife Clarisa Evans started her practice to empower all members of an expecting family from pregnancy through postpartum. While carrying on the legacy of her great grandmother, Evans has become part of a community that reimagines pregnancy and birth outside of hospitals and inside homes.

Missouri was one of only four states, along with Georgia, Iowa and Texas, that saw an increase in infant mortality between 2021 and 2022, according to federal data. And Black women are dying at much higher rates than their white counterparts.

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.

Installed at Mehlville Fire Protection District Station 2 in south St. Louis County, the box is a secured incubator that new mothers in crisis can leave their newborns in if they are not able to care for the child.

Current Missouri law limits Medicaid postpartum care to 60 days. Under the new legislation, that coverage now lasts for a full year — giving mothers more opportunity to treat health conditions and mental health issues.

In Missouri, maternal mental health conditions are the No. 1 cause of pregnancy-related deaths. According to a state-commissioned review, all mental health-related maternal deaths were deemed preventable. But Missouri's government has largely failed to respond to the crisis.