pregnancy

Missouri has a maternal mortality rate of 25.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, higher than the national average. Health professionals worry that the state’s near-total abortion ban will make pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period even more dangerous.

Some Republican lawmakers in Kansas want to give millions of taxpayer dollars to crisis pregnancy centers, controversial clinics that try to discourage women from getting abortions. Critics say they're dangerous and misleading people at their most vulnerable.

While abortion was almost completely banned in Missouri after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, several Republican lawmakers are already working to further restrict access to reproductive health care.

A Missouri lawmaker has already filed a bill to extend post-childbirth Medicaid coverage past its current two month cutoff. Other conservative-led states are considering similar legislation.

Missouri has the 8th highest maternal deaths in the country. A bill filed in the upcoming legislative session would extend postpartum care for low-income women.

2020 brought a sharp rise in the already-dire rate of Black infant mortality in Kansas. Black babies are now nearly three and a half times as likely to die in their first year of life as white babies.

Many of the states that are moving to ban abortion — such as Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma — tend to have less access to health care, worse maternal and infant health care outcomes and weaker social supports for children and families.

A multi-year report on maternal mortality in Missouri found that women on Medicaid are eight times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy than those with private health insurance. Black women were three times more likely to die than white women.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame will finally induct Negro Leagues legend Buck O’Neil this weekend, 16 years after his death. O'Neil's impact is still felt by coaches, players and fans all over Kansas City. Plus, a third Kansas City woman shares her abortion story.

Communities of color in Kansas and Missouri face a far higher burden of medical debt than white people in those states and people of color in many other states. Plus, we hear another Kansas City woman share her abortion story.

Kansas City Public Schools has a new interim superintendent, who has big plans for the district and says she knows "exactly what we need to do to move forward." Plus, a Kansas City woman shares her abortion story.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he has no plans to call a special legislative session to protect access to contraceptives and address ectopic pregnancies. Democratic leaders called on the governor to hold a special session now that the state has banned nearly all abortions.