A global group of female community health workers is descending on the UN
A global group of female community health workers is descending on the UN
Erica Hensley
Erica Hensley is the Executive Coordinator and Special Projects Manager. Before her current role, she was a public health and data reporter for The Fuller Project based in and covering the South, with a particular focus on reproductive health and equity.
Before joining The Fuller Project, she freelanced and worked as an investigative reporter focusing on public health for one of the first Southern non-profit digital outlets, Mississippi Today, where she was a Knight Foundation fellow and her COVID-19 work helped put national attention on Mississippi’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was the inaugural recipient of the Doris O'Donnell Innovations in Investigative Journalism Fellowship and won Atlanta Press Club's investigative reporting award for her work on lead exposure in Georgia.
Erica received a bachelor’s in print journalism and political science from the University of Southern California and a master’s in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia.
In a new government report, a doctor seeks answers to her mother’s health conditions
Chronic conditions that predominantly affect women have been long overlooked by researchers. A new government report demands change.
Born still, in legal and medical limbo
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How the latest abortion case in front of SCOTUS worries maternity-care advocates
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The latest Alzheimer’s breakthrough largely excluded Black women, who are most disproportionately impacted by the devastating disease.
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By 2020, there was one Black woman for every 10 white women in FDA-approved drug trials.
How abortion restrictions compare, state-by-state
Access to abortion in the U.S. depends on where you live. Increasingly, the South and Midwest are becoming complete abortion deserts. Our interactive map highlights six major restrictions in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Related: How a network of college students is preparing for post-Roe campuses
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New federal report calls out clinical trials for excluding pregnant women
A new report from the influential National Academies of Sciences pushes back on the unspoken rule in medical research that pregnant and breastfeeding women are too vulnerable and risky to include in clinical trials.
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States owe Historically Black Colleges and Universities billions, disproportionately harming Black women
Historically Black Colleges and Universities are owed billions of dollars, despite being beacons of Black excellence across the U.S.
Author Cat Bohannon on post-Roe America, asteroids and the medical “male norm”
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Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, pregnant people from Southern states that have banned abortion have flooded North Carolina clinics, overwhelming a nonprofit that helps pay for abortion and related expenses.
Women left out of 9/11 benefits finally eligible for health care, compensation
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The only cancer that won’t get covered for women of 9/11
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From abortion to wellness: an “indie” clinic pivots to survive in the post-Roe landscape
After the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal protection of abortion, clinics across the Southeast and Midwest closed this summer. But Feminist Women’s Health Center, an independent abortion clinic with a long history in Atlanta,…
How a network of college students is preparing for post-Roe campuses
One drop-off at a time, college students are arming themselves with preventive emergency contraception — which could soon be one of the last legal chances to stop a pregnancy.
The mental health crisis facing Black mothers in the South
Research on maternal and infant deaths disparities is now catching up to what many Black women already know: The difference in outcomes is not because of race, but racism. Black mental health advocates and providers in the South are using their own pregnancy-related tragedies to help a community heal.
Related: Why deaths by suicide often go uncounted in states’ maternal mortality studies
Deaths by suicide often uncounted in states’ maternal mortality reviews
The U.S. maternal mortality rate in 2020 reached a high never before seen since tracking began. But most states aren’t counting suicides and overdoses as a part of their formal pregnancy-related death review, which means the maternal mortality rate could be even higher.
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