Capstones
Graduation Date
Fall 12-19-2025
Grading Professor
Emily Laber-Warren
Subject Concentration
Health & Science
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
The U.S. still holds the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income nations around the world. While national rates have since seen a slight decrease, Black mothers still see high maternal death rates in comparison to white mothers, showing that racial disparities in maternal death rates are still apparent. In NYC, the reason for these disparities are not just unequal access to quality healthcare, but also the poor living conditions of neighborhoods in the city that are made up mainly of minoritized groups. So far, it has gone unconsidered that that the maternal mortality and climate crises are happening concurrently. This means that pregnant and postpartum mothers living in poorer neighborhoods in NYC are experiencing the same issues as other minority groups in these neighborhoods such as more polluted air from a concentration of industrial facilities, hotter temperatures from low tree coverage, higher likelihood of flooding and many other issues caused by climate change, yet there are not many resources out there to protect pregnant and postpartum mothers in the city from these conditions. Doula-centered organizations throughout the U.S. in areas such as New Orleans, Florida and Oregon seem to be picking up the slack by providing both tangible and written materials that mothers and other organizations can modify these resources as needed, but unfortunately NYC is still lagging behind.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u7T2rPcQ9EmudxDNMjmLzo-T57n2EiYaNYKd8_-WAk8/edit?usp=sharing
Recommended Citation
Simon, Jada, "NYC FALLS BEHIND IN CLIMATE RESOURCES FOR PREGNANT AND POSTPARTUM MOMS" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/841
