By Dovile Vilda and Clare Daniel | The U.S. loses over 20,000 babies to stillbirth each year, with many preventable. Yet stillbirth remains largely invisible in policy and public discourse, and families are left to deal with these tragic and costly losses with little support.
A new documentary from ProPublica, Before a Breath—based on the outlet’s Pulitzer Prize finalist reporting—follows three mothers who turn their grief from stillbirth into advocacy for safer pregnancies and better outcomes for expecting parents.
The overall rate of stillbirth in the U.S. has been declining over several decades, but the rate of decline has slowed significantly in recent years; and some recent studies suggest rates may be higher than previously reported.
In keeping with other trends in maternal and infant health, we see a persistent racial disparity, in which Black women experience stillbirths at a rate roughly twice as high as white women.
A key factor in the prevalence of stillbirth is the failure of healthcare systems to listen to women.
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