Gendered Racism on the Body: An Intersectional Analysis of Maternal Mortality Disparities

Andrea Becker , Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)
Evelyn J. Patterson, Vanderbilt University

While gender and race are understood as highly important indicators of health trajectories, research has not yet thoroughly documented the role race and gender concurrently have in the production of maternal mortality outcomes for black and white women. This study uses formal demographic techniques to examine the strikingly high maternal mortality rates in the U.S. since between 2016-2017 and the ways state legislation surrounding abortion access and Medicaid produce divergent maternal mortality rates between states and racial categories. Through a novel methodological approach, and the incorporation of race and gender health theories on a demographic phenomenon, this study contributes to the study of health, race, gender, discrimination, and maternal mortality outcomes.

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 Presented in Session 213. Maternal Morbidity and Mortality in the United States