Black mothers face dismally high death rates. Now they have to contend with climate change, too.
News studies and legislation show how dire the situation is for Black mothers in America. (Mustafa Omar/Unsplash/)In 2016, Kira Johnson died giving birth to her second child, hours after she notified doctors of severe abdominal pain. According to her husband, Charles Johnson, doctors at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles told him that his wife was “not a priority.” Ten hours later, shortly after midnight, her heart stopped during an emergency surgery, which revealed that she had over three liters of blood in her abdomen from internal bleeding.“I started to do research for myself,” Johnson told CNN this past February. “I realized, oh my gosh, we are in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis that isn’t just shameful for American standards. It is shameful on a global scale.”Shortly thereafter, Johnson and his mother met with Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois. After digging deep into the issue, Kelly says she...