Research
The Benefits of Licensed Midwifery and Community Birth in New Mexico, Among BIPOC Birthing People
Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) families comprise a disproportionately low percentage of home and freestanding birth center births in New Mexico, despite NM Medicaid coverage of care by Licensed Midwives (LMs) in these settings. This research explored why low income BIPOC seek out and benefit from care by LMs, as well as the factors that facilitate and obstruct access.
Between 2016-2017, we held 7 focus groups with 55 low income BIPOC who had birthed in New Mexico in the past 5 years. Participants in four of the groups intended to birth with an LM; participants in three of the groups intended to birth in a hospital.
The experiences of New Mexico families and birthing people detailed in our study deserve careful consideration when designing systems and policies related to perinatal care, as well as when reviewing and revising these systems and policies. New Mexico has an emerging opportunity to improve access to quality care for families, and make the midwife profession more sustainable for those that practice it.
Reproductive Healthcare Success Guide - A Resource for Practitioners and Funders
The Reproductive Healthcare Success Guide aims to advance equitable reproductive healthcare in New Mexico. In this guide we share and elevate what we have learned through collaborative work with our communities, and offer guidance directly to providers and funders who are seeking to offer and support reproductive healthcare in New Mexico. This guidance extends to organizational leaders, health and wellness practitioners and specialists, caregivers, clinics and clinicians, and those in a range of roles who fund efforts to provide care in New Mexico.
This resource was developed in close collaboration with community partners, clinicians, and birth workers in Doña Ana, McKinley, and Santa Fe Counties. The guide outlines some of the critical aspects future providers, funders, and other institutions must consider as they begin the process to serve New Mexico communities with respect and dignity.
Perinatal Emergency Recommendations, Considering Disparities and Outcomes: COVID-19 and Beyond
These policy recommendations were crafted by a group of Indigenous, Black, and people of color healthcare providers and advocates that serve communities across our state. Historically and today, patient care improvements and changes to health practices and systems have come at the expense of the bodies and lives of Indigenous, Black, and people of color communities; this is unacceptable. In turn, our recommendations were developed by the expertise and experiences of leaders who intimately understand our underlying disparities in perinatal outcomes, and carry critical knowledge around these issues.
Providing Doulas as Continuous Labor Support for Pregnant Patients in Substance Use Disorder Treatment Can Help Families
A 2019 NM-based pilot research project funded by NIH (Grant # U54 MD004811 – UNM TREE Center) suggests that pregnant patients receiving substance use disorder treatment may greatly benefit from access to experienced doulas providing trauma-informed and addiction-informed support. The results from the pilot also suggest that both doulas and medical providers are eager to facilitate access to doula care for these pregnant individuals.
Rural Research Deck
For far too long, our rural and frontier communities have been ignored by movements for reproductive health and rights in New Mexico and across the country. Often, rural families are deemed “too conservative and/or too Catholic” to engage. As a result, assumptions and conclusions are made about what rural communities believe. Young Women United and Strong Families New Mexico, know our New Mexican communities hold complex and respectful values. This project was designed to demonstrate the impact that is possible when we hear directly from rural communities and meet our families with dignity and respect.
Attitudes Toward Reproductive Health Policy Among Rural New Mexicans
For far too long, our rural and frontier communities have been ignored by movements for reproductive health and rights in New Mexico and across the country. Often, rural families are deemed “too conservative and/or too Catholic” to engage. As a result, we perpetuate a culture of assumptions and foregone conclusions about what rural communities believe. In reality, our New Mexican communities hold complex and respectful values. This project was designed to demonstrate the impact that is possible when we hear directly from rural communities and meet all of our families with dignity and respect.
Dismantling “Teen Pregnancy Prevention”
Bold Futures (formerly Young Women United) defines “Teen Pregnancy Prevention” as an articulated strategy or campaign designed to keep young people from becoming parents as teenagers, of which the underlying premise is that teen pregnancy is inherently something that needs to be prevented. YWU understands teen pregnancy prevention to be inaccurate and stigmatizing. This report serves to discredit myths regularly perpetuated by the frame and messaging that function as the foundation of teen pregnancy prevention models.