Disabled and pregnant? Good luck finding a doctor
Disabled people give birth at same rate as nondisabled ones — so why does medicine treat them as anomalies?
Headlines From The Times · Sonja Sharp, Deborah Krakow, Marie Flores, Mario Diaz, Shannon Lin, Shani Hilton, Denise Guerra, Melissa Kaplan, Ashlea Brown, Gustavo Arellano, Lauren Raab
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Show Notes
Disabled people get pregnant and give birth at the same rates as nondisabled ones. But their outcomes are often far worse — for reasons that can’t be explained by anatomical difference or medical complexity — and modern medicine has largely turned its back on them.
L.A. Times Metro reporter Sonja Sharp has experienced the discrimination firsthand, and she’s reported on the issue as well.
Today, she speaks with Dr. Marie Flores, a physician who uses a wheelchair and is trying to become a mother, and Dr. Deborah Krakow, the chair of UCLA’s obstetrics and gynecology department, about how our society treats the intersection of pregnancy and disability. She also shares her own story and describes why she sees disabled motherhood as a radical act.
More reading:
Disabled mothers-to-be face indignity: ‘Do you have a man? Can you have sex?’
Video: How disabled mothers are neglected by modern medicine