Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus held a House Majority Policy Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon as part of Black Maternal Health Week to address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes. Ongoing racial disparities in maternal careThe caucus emphasized that the United States continues to face significant inequities, with Black women experiencing higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity compared to other groups. Mercedes Wells shares her birth experienceMercedes Wells, of Illinois, testified about her experience giving birth to her fourth child. “My story is not just about one hospital or one moment. It represents a larger issue that many Black women across this country face. Not being believed, not being heard, and not receiving timely care when we know something is wrong with our bodies before, during, and after labor,” Wells said. Discharged while in laborWells shared that, despite being in labor and having her water break, her doctor never came to see her, and she was discharged from the hospital. She gave birth on the side of the road minutes after leaving the hospital. Panelists also testified about what they are calling a “maternal desert” in southeastern Pennsylvania, where several hospitals have closed, further limiting access to maternal care in the region.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus held a House Majority Policy Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon as part of Black Maternal Health Week to address racial disparities in maternal health outcomes. <\/p>\n
Ongoing racial disparities in maternal care<\/p>\n
The caucus emphasized that the United States continues to face significant inequities, with Black women experiencing higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity compared to other groups. <\/p>\n
Mercedes Wells shares her birth experience<\/p>\n
Mercedes Wells, of Illinois, testified about her experience giving birth to her fourth child. <\/p>\n
“My story is not just about one hospital or one moment. It represents a larger issue that many Black women across this country face. Not being believed, not being heard, and not receiving timely care when we know something is wrong with our bodies before, during, and after labor,” Wells said. <\/p>\n
Discharged while in labor<\/p>\n
Wells shared that, despite being in labor and having her water break, her doctor never came to see her, and she was discharged from the hospital. She gave birth on the side of the road minutes after leaving the hospital. <\/p>\n
Panelists also testified about what they are calling a “maternal desert” in southeastern Pennsylvania, where several hospitals have closed, further limiting access to maternal care in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOMICIDE, AND THE CAUSE OF DEATH IS A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. THIS IS BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK IN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41076,74776,74781,17585,74785,67178,6111,74777,24753,59,74787,74779,74786,11108,74782,74778,74783,74784,28,11109,30,29,16874,74780],"class_list":{"0":"post-165923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-birth","9":"tag-black-maternal-health-week","10":"tag-black-woman","11":"tag-experience","12":"tag-fourth-child","13":"tag-high-rate","14":"tag-hospital","15":"tag-house-majority-policy-committee","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-labor","18":"tag-large-issue","19":"tag-maternal-care","20":"tag-maternal-carethe-caucus","21":"tag-maternal-health","22":"tag-maternal-mortality","23":"tag-mercedes-wells","24":"tag-morbidity","25":"tag-other-group","26":"tag-pennsylvania","27":"tag-pennsylvania-black-maternal-health-caucus","28":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","29":"tag-pennsylvania-news","30":"tag-racial-disparities","31":"tag-racial-disparity"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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