Hello and welcome to Healthbeat's weekly report on stories shaping public health in the United States.

It was Mother's Day in the United States on Sunday. In addition to being an important day of celebration, it can also be a solemn occasion, because of the fatal health risks associated with pregnancy and the newborn period.

This week I'm highlighting recent stories about emerging risks to mothers and babies in the United States, including restricted access to essential medications, misinformation, and violence.

I am Dr. Jay K. Varma, a physician, epidemiologist, and public health expert currently serving as chief medical officer at Fedcap, a global nonprofit focused on economic mobility and well-being for vulnerable communities. Views expressed here are my own.

Supreme Court will consider restricting access to medication-assisted abortion

Abortion is an essential medical procedure. Roughly 1 in 4 American women will have one in their lifetime, and, over the past two decades, it has become safer, more effective, and more accessible, largely because of the two-drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol. 

Today, medication abortion accounts for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States, and about a quarter are provided through telemedicine. A systematic review of 99 studies concluded that the two-drug regimen is safe and effective. At least three studies in the United States have additionally demonstrated it is safe and effective to screen patients by telehealth and provide medications by mail, supporting the findings of a systematic review that included studies from around the world.

Access to abortion medications is now at risk in a case before the Supreme Court. On May 1, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Louisiana in Louisiana vs. FDA, temporarily reinstating a Food and Drug Administration requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in person, a rule the FDA lifted in 2023 after reviewing more than two decades of safety data. Justice Samuel Alito issued a one-week administrative stay on May 4, and the full court will decide soon whether to keep mailed mifepristone available while the case proceeds.

Louisiana's argument is, frankly, absurd. Louisiana claims standing because it spent $92,000 in Medicaid funds treating two patients who experienced complications from mifepristone obtained out of state. As the drug manufacturers Danco and GenBioPro argued in their emergency appeal, this theory of injury, if accepted, would let any state challenge any federal policy that ends in a doctor visit the state pays for. 

Two years ago, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a similar challenge from anti-abortion physicians on standing grounds. But I and many others are worried that the conservative super-majority will use this case to further restrict abortion access.

If the court rolls back the 2023 rule, telehealth providers could shift to providing a one-drug regimen with misoprostol, which is less likely to be restricted because it has medical indications beyond abortion. While a single-drug protocol works, it is less effective and causes more pain, bleeding, and gastrointestinal side effects. Quite simply, overturning the FDA’s rule would harm women.

Homicide and suicide are now leading causes of death for pregnant women

One of the most harmful fallacies in the push to restrict abortion access is that abortion is dangerous and that pregnancy is safe. In fact, pregnancy places a woman at high risk of serious illness and death. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that there are two less well-recognized reasons why American mothers are dying during pregnancy: overdoses and violence.

Columbia University researchers analyzed every death among pregnant and postpartum women in the United States between 2018 and 2023. Of 7,901 deaths, the single leading cause was unintentional drug overdose (1,152 deaths). Violence, including homicide and suicide combined, was second, at 866 deaths. 

Homicide rates were highest among non-Hispanic Black women aged 15 to 24, at 14.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, which was more than four times the rate for white and Hispanic women in the same age group. Firearms were used in 77% of homicides and 39% of suicides. 

Taken together, overdose and violence accounted for more than a quarter of all maternal deaths and nearly equaled the combined toll for the four causes of death that we generally believe to be the most important in pregnant and post-partum women: cardiovascular disease, infection, hypertension, and hemorrhage.

Babies are dying because parents are refusing vitamin K

We are now seeing that American babies are also at risk of dying soon after birth, and the primary reason is misinformation.

Newborns are born with very low levels of vitamin K, which the body needs to produce clotting factors. Without enough vitamin K, infants can bleed into their gut, lungs, or, most catastrophically, their brain.

Before universal newborn vitamin K injections began in 1961, up to 1 in 60 babies developed bleeding from vitamin K deficiency in the first week of life. A single intramuscular injection at birth, given within hours of delivery, has nearly eliminated the condition. 

Increasingly, parents are rejecting this life-saving injection. The proportion of U.S. newborns not receiving vitamin K rose from 2.92% in 2017 to 5.18% in 2024 — a 77% increase. Babies who do not receive the shot are 81 times more likely to develop late vitamin K deficiency bleeding, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in every 5 babies who develop the condition will die.

I encourage you to read a detailed article that tells the stories behind these deaths. Reporters reviewed autopsies from babies across the country whose deaths were attributed, in whole or in part, to vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Hospitals are reporting refusal rates that have doubled or tripled since the pandemic. At Idaho's St. Luke's system, the refusal rate climbed from 3.8% in 2020 to 9.8% in 2025; one hospital reached 20%. 

What is driving parents to refuse vitamin K? Quite simply, it’s misinformation. Parents are telling pediatricians they fear toxins, distrust pharmaceuticals, think the injection will lead to leukemia (it does not), and prefer "natural" approaches. While these same parents refuse vaccinations for children and themselves, I have not been able to understand why they refuse a vitamin. 

Many adults who oppose vaccinations consume vitamins and supplements regularly themselves, believing it will enhance their health, but, oddly, they are the same people denying a life-saving vitamin for their newborns. 

Celebrating Mother’s Day

Mother's Day should be a celebration. For me, the best way to celebrate mothers in America is to ensure they and their future babies have access to the medications, care, and accurate information they need to live healthy lives. 

ICYMI

Here’s a recap of the latest reporting from Healthbeat:

• Medication access: Why it’s so hard to get better drugs for neglected diseases 

• Addiction services: Trump’s drug strategy aims to bolster addiction services — despite gutting of government support

• Measles: Possible measles exposure reported at Newark airport

Until next week,

Jay

Thumbnail image by Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images