It's the Brian Lairn on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone.

Well, since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, having children or not more broadly has become

more politicized, from religious trad wives who model large families on social media to so-called

childless cat ladies that slur from Vice President Vance. The message from the Trump administration

is clear, women should have more babies in America.

But childbirth in the U.S. is as dangerous in some U.S. states as it is in countries with far fewer

resources. A new report from the Commonwealth Fund finds that Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas

had similar mortality rates as El Salvador, Belize, and Azerbaijan.

The report warns that the overturning of Roe plus impending Medicaid cuts, quote, will likely deepen coverage

instability during pregnancy and after delivery, periods already marked by high rates of churn and care disruptions that

contribute to poor maternal and infant health outcomes, unquote. Our guest now argues that the erosion

of reproductive freedom post-obs has made pregnancy dangerous for all American women. With us now is

Arin Carmon, senior correspondent at New York Magazine.

Some of you know back in 2015, she was co-author of the book, Notorious R.B.G.

About Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Her new book explores what it means to be pregnant today in America through reporting and personal stories.

It's titled Unbearable Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America.

Erin, welcome back to WNYC. Thank you for joining us for this. I'm so thrilled to be back together, Brian.

And you write, the end of Roe versus Wade allowing about half of American states to enact abortion bans almost overnight

has already brought unimaginable pain. It has also exposed how broken the existing system already is,

shaped as it is, by the same values that animate abortion bans. What are you looking at?

Well, Brian, in the immediate aftermath of Dobbs, I think many

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