Protecting women's reproductive rights feels like an uphill battle. To date, 14 states have a total abortion ban in place that don't allow any exceptions for sexual violence against women or young girls. One of the states is Missouri, where model Karlie Kloss spent time as a child.
Having given birth to her first child during the pandemic, she feels fortunate to have a positive birth story, but she knows this isn't always the case for others. Unfortunately, doctors don't always prioritize women's pain and this can end up especially hurting Black moms. There's also things like postpartum depression to consider.
Luckily, there are moms — like Karlie Kloss — who are willing to push back against any stigma by sharing their postpartum stories and advocating for maternal health.
Karlie's Postpartum Experience + Maternal Health Inequality
There are birthing classes and books dedicated to educating moms about life during postpartum, but that doesn't always mean you can know exactly what to expect. In Karlie's case, she remembers the difficulties she faced after giving birth. She told Glamour, "My body was completely turned around, you’re not sleeping, and there’s this enormous learning curve that you have to figure out." For some moms, postpartum anxiety or postpartum depression can add to the challenges of adjusting to a new normal. The truth is that 1 in 10 women experience PPD, making it a common occurrence.
As tough as the postpartum experience can be, Karlie feels like it helped open her eyes to things she didn't have prior knowledge about. She said, "...the access to, say, the right kind of formula to feed your child, or protections and rights, is not equal."
Why Karlie's Advocating For Maternal Health Support + Paid Leave
When Karlie learned about the trigger ban on abortion in Missouri, she told Glamour she was upset and wanted to figure out how to become active in fighting for reproductive rights. She said, "We are living in a country where forced birth is a reality. And yet when that mother goes into labor and that child comes into the world, she also is not protected...before being forced to go back to work." She went on to express frustration about the lack of policies that can ensure birthing women are actually protected in a country that demands ownership of their reproductive rights.
It's one of the reasons she chose to join Bobbie's Motherboard and the #passpaidleave campaign. She said, "As I’ve gotten more informed on the history of it, learning how many times [paid leave] has been tried to pass and how close we got this past fall, now is the time to really bring this to the forefront." This inspired her to implement a 12-week paid leave policy at her own company, Kode With Klossy. Right on!
We still have a long way to go when it comes to women's health. We know it shouldn't be a hard decision for the government to determine women need more beneficial policies and less threats of criminal charges but, thankfully, there are people who are committed to using their platforms to advocate.
What do you wish people knew about maternal health? Let us know in the comments.
Header image by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
