than white women to die during pregnancy or childbirth. Beyond expanding Medicaid, Booker listed a suite of policies that could help alleviate the crisis: paid parental leave, paid sick leave, and more affordable holistic post-partum care. “Why don’t low income women have access to doulas?” he asked.
Alexandra Rucinski, 29, sat across from Booker and told him her story. She grew up in a conservative family and was taught all about abstinence and nothing about contraception. When she became sexually active in her early twenties, she got pregnant “really quick.” When she walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic for the first time, she was terrified. She’d always been told that Planned Parenthood was an evil organization.
Phoebe McNeece, 33, told Booker about learning that she was pregnant shortly after attempting suicide for the second time. Like Rucinski, she went to Planned Parenthood for care, and like Rucinski, she decided to stay pregnant.