Thursday, May 7, 2026 | Vol 40 No 8

WESTSIDESTORY NEWSPAPER

The Weight Mothers Are Carrying and then face an unintended pregnancy in a landscape where abortion access is restricted, delayed, or entirely out of reach.

By Sylvia Ghazarian care. They are more likely to work in low- wage jobs without paid leave, more likely to face discrimination in the workplace, and more This is not just a policy debate. It is a mental likely to be navigating healthcare systems that health crisis. do not see or understand them. For many, cul- turally competent care is not just limited, it is nonexistent.

On Mothers' Day we celebrate mothers for their strength and sacrifice. But May is also Mental Health Awareness Month, and we rarely talk about the systems that are breaking them and about policies that push them deeper into stress, instability, and silence.

Across this country, mothers, especially Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, are carrying an invisible weight. It shows up in sleepless nights, in anxiety that never qui- ets, in the constant mental math of survival: rent or childcare, groceries or gas, time with their children or time at work. It is the pressure of holding everything together while knowing there is no safety net if something gives.

At Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP), we hear from mothers' who are working two jobs or cannot take time off without risking their income or employment. Many are already stretched beyond capacity

The data continues to tell the story. One in five mothers in this country will experience a mental health condition during pregnancy or within the first year postpartum and most will go untreated. Suicide is now one of the lead- ing causes of death for new mothers, account- ing for up to 20 percent of postpartum deaths. These are not isolated tragedies. They are the predictable outcome of systems that fail to sup- port pregnant people when they need it most. And like so many crises in this country, the burden is not shared equally.

Women in marginalized communities are more likely to experience maternal mental health conditions and far less likely to receive

When a mother cannot take time off to seek care without risking her job, the stress com- pounds. When she cannot afford childcare, ev- ery decision becomes a trade-off. When she is dismissed or judged in a medical setting, she is less likely to return. Over time, that constant pressure erodes mental health turning stress into anxiety, anxiety into depression, and in far too many cases, despair into something far more dangerous.

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