‘It's preventable. We have Black mothers dying at three to four times the rates of white women, and it doesn't have to be like that.’

April Mickens Jolly is the Vice President of Health Equity & Culture at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri – and a Black mother.According to the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services, Black women in Missouri are 4 times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white women.