women's health

In Missouri, pregnant women can't get a divorce unless they have a custody agreement settled. "No matter how deep the pain, the law kept me legally bound to him," state Rep. Cecelie Williams said of her attempt to divorce her abusive husband while pregnant with their fourth child.

A Kansas City doctor is behind a report about the unique injury risks of cheerleading, and is calling for a series of changes to improve safety — including recognizing it as a sport. Plus: Researchers still know little about why concussions are increasing for female athletes.

Concussions have tripled for female athletes in the past two decades. However, researchers know little about why because a large number of studies focus on male athletes.

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.

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?

Advocates for abortion rights in Missouri say they are feeling cautiously optimistic about the statewide vote coming up in November.

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.

Missouri continues to see maternal and infant mortality rates, breast and cervical cancer death rates, preterm births, congenital syphilis and depression around pregnancy at rates that are higher than the national average. It also fared among the worst nationally for mental health.

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.

Trust Women and other Kansas clinics have played an outsized role in treating abortion patients from states with bans. The clinic’s new board president says she hopes the pause will be "very temporary."

Black women hoping to conceive using donor sperm often have to choose a donor from a different race or put their fertility journey on hold because of a shortage of Black sperm donors. One woman tells us her story. Plus: Parts of Missouri, Kansas and other Midwest states are still in drought, despite recent rains.

Black women hoping to conceive using donor sperm often have to choose a donor from a different race or put their fertility journey on hold because of a shortage of Black sperm donors. Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center are trying to find out why.