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We document the systemic obstacles preventing women from accessing reliable health care, including maternal, newborn, and sexual and reproductive health care, and delineate the consequences of not prioritizing women’s safety and security, including gender-based violence. Through rigorous data reporting, we expose how investing in women’s health benefits communities, economies, and entire societies.

Baby formula marketing practices are still too aggressive, WHO report finds


The baby milk formula shortage in the United States has overshadowed fresh scrutiny over the industry’s dubious marketing. Globally, experts warn that these companies have long employed predatory marketing in order to maximize the purchase of formula at the expense of breastfeeding.

Related: The loneliest lactation consultant in the world
by Melissa Chan

Co-published with Foreign Policy

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
by Erica Hensley

Co-published with Reckon

Reporter’s Notebook: A toxic trash site in Kenya is making women sick

While it’s understood that exposure to the toxic chemicals found on dumpsites can result in cancer, respiratory problems and skin infections, relatively little attention has been paid to their impact on the reproductive health of…
by Louise Donovan

From the Archives: Group that helps FGM survivors wins prestigious UK award. Meet the founder.

Stigma can stop survivors of female genital mutilation from seeking help, but Hawa Bah, who was cut at eight, reaches those suffering in silence to get them the care they need.
by Louise Donovan

Co-published with The Guardian

‘The smoke enters your body’: A toxic trash site in Kenya is making women sick

As rubbish piles up on a vast dumpsite, the women who sift through it for their livelihood are suffering reproductive health problems that scientists say have been overlooked.

Related: Air pollution’s impact on women’s health is not getting the attention it needs, scientists warn
by Moraa Obiria, Louise Donovan

Published in partnership with VICE World News and the Nation

The draft abortion ruling that shook the states

While the Supreme Court justices before now contorted themselves to find common legal ground on this most controversial of issues, the leaked draft opinion that would overturn the landmark abortion decision in Roe V. Wade was anything but mealy-mouthed. But what should we make of all of this? Does this unofficial, unauthorized document even matter? Here are five ideas to keep in mind as we continue to make sense of what has happened and of what may lie ahead.

New York prepares to become an abortion safe haven

In the wake of a leaked decision by Justice Alito gutting abortion rights, New York state lawmakers have introduced measures to expand access for the expected influx of abortion seekers.
by Jessica Washington

Co-published with THE CITY

‘I can’t keep this baby’: Pregnant Ukrainian refugees struggle to get abortion care

Poland has become a place of refuge for millions of women fleeing war in Ukraine. It also has some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws, posing a major challenge to refugees with unwanted pregnancies. Some have survived rape, others simply cannot imagine taking on the responsibility of a child while their futures are so uncertain.
by Hanna Kozlowska

Co-published with The Cut

Reporter’s Notebook: Indoor air in India can be just as bad as the country’s toxic smog. Was I wrong to be surprised?

India's polluted skylines regularly make international news. But it’s only now coming to light that air quality inside homes, which mainly affects women in the kitchen, can be just as bad.
by Disha Shetty

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.
by Erica Hensley

Co-published with Reckon

Air pollution's impact on women's health is slipping under the radar, public health experts warn

Evidence is clear that air pollution is linked to higher rates of miscarriages, pregnancy complications and stillbirths, affecting women’s reproductive health. But public health experts say that air pollution’s impact on women's health is not getting the attention it needs.
by Disha Shetty

Co-published with Scroll and Health Policy Watch

Early puberty cases have surged during covid, doctors say

A mother in Mumbai noticed that her eight-year-old daughter seemed to be developing breasts. Then came bloodstains on her clothes. The little girl had gotten her first period. Did the pandemic push the child into puberty? Doctors around the world blame the pandemic for a surge in early puberty?
by Puja Changoiwala

Co-published with The Washington Post

Analysis: Where democracy falters, so do reproductive rights

Reproductive rights don’t exist in a vacuum: They are inextricably linked to democratic institutions, with threats to one reinforcing threats to the other. As countries like Poland, Brazil, Hungary, and the United States face threats to their democracies, so do the women of those countries face threats to their reproductive rights.
by Hanna Kozlowska

Co-published with Foreign Policy

DA won’t drop charges against Manhattan woman charged with murder who says she acted in self-defense

Tracy McCarter won a small concession from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Monday in a case alleging she murdered her estranged husband. But the DA’s office stopped short of dropping a murder charge for an act she says was in self-defense.
by Jessica Washington

This story was co-published with THE CITY.

Do police help or hurt domestic violence survivors? New York City council members take a stand

Tiffany Cabán and Mercedes Narcisse plunge New York City’s legislature into a fierce debate dividing domestic violence advocates about the role of law enforcement in getting help for survivors.
by Jessica Washington

Co-published with THE CITY

Afghanistan’s new government imposes discriminatory restrictions on healthcare

A new requirement from the Taliban— that women be accompanied by a male chaperone when seeking healthcare—is preventing many Afghan women from getting the treatment they need at a time when the country is facing a severe economic crisis, food insecurity and a massive spike in COVID-19 cases.
by Nargis Amini, Zahra Nader

This story was co-published with Rukhshana Media and Foreign Policy.

The South’s abortion battle has a new front: telemedicine

A new bill making its way through the Georgia statehouse would criminalize access to abortion pills by telemedicine — a common, safe, easy way to end early pregnancies that the federal government first allowed last year.
by Erica Hensley

Co-published with Reckon

Women victimized by Boko Haram forced to choose peace over justice

Boko Haram militants are surrendering to the Nigerian government as part of a rehabilitation program. But the women they once tortured are demanding justice too.
by Shola Lawal

This story was co-published with VICE World News.

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