Disabled and pregnant? Good luck finding a doctor

Disabled people get pregnant and give birth at the same rates as nondisabled ones. But their outcomes are often far worse — for reasons that can’t be explained by anatomical difference or medical complexity — and modern medicine has largely turned its back on them.

L.A. Times Metro reporter Sonja Sharp has experienced the discrimination firsthand, and she’s reported on the issue as well.

Today, she speaks with Dr. Marie Flores, a physician who uses a wheelchair and is trying to become a mother, and Dr. Deborah Krakow, the chair of UCLA’s obstetrics and gynecology department, about how our society treats the intersection of pregnancy and disability. She also shares her own story and describes why she sees disabled motherhood as a radical act.

More reading:

Disabled mothers-to-be face indignity: ‘Do you have a man? Can you have sex?’

Video: How disabled mothers are neglected by modern medicine

Three lessons from disabled mothers