Women most exposed to high temperatures or air pollution are more likely to have high-risk pregnancies. Specifically: premature, underweight or stillborn babies. This was highlighted by a report that examined 57 studies conducted in the United States between 2007 and 2019 on 32 million births.

The research, published in Jama network open (part of the Journal of American medical association), found a clear link between climate change and risks for unborn children, extrapolating from it a series of rather alarming data and considerations. Including those that, once again, confirm the close connection between climate justice and social justice. As also acknowledged by (likely) US presidential candidate Joe Biden, who commented on the news with a tweet, stating: "Climate change is linked to increasing pregnancy risks and, heartbreakingly, Black mothers are hit the hardest. As president, I will work every day to directly confront the climate crisis and root out injustices. Because they are interconnected."

Joe Biden ✓ @JoeBiden

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Climate change is linked to increased pregnancy risks — and heartbreakingly, Black mothers are being hit the hardest. As President, I'll work every day to tackle the climate crisis head-on and root out injustice. Because they are intertwined.

♥ 10352💬 4051 19 giu 2020 · Apri su X →

African American mothers are at greatest risk

One finding to emerge from the analysis, then, is that African American mothers and babies suffer significantly greater harm than the general population. This was stated by Dr Rupa Basu, one of the report's authors and head of the air and climate epidemiology section at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment in California:

"We already know that these pregnancy outcomes are worse for women of colour"

This is due to the fact that minorities often live in hotter areas (known as heat islands) and areas more exposed to pollution, Dr Basu explained, noting that African Americans are more likely to live near power plants and other sources of air pollution, close to industrial areas, in homes without air conditioning and with fewer green spaces, which, as is well known, help to mitigate temperatures.

What is more, according to Dr Basu the research also showed that minorities tend to have less access to medical care and to receive lower levels of treatment than white people.

Adrienne Hollis, senior scientist for health and climate justice at the Union of Concerned Scientists, stated that these problems cannot be tackled in isolation.

"We need to look at policies that offer equitable opportunities for communities of colour. If we address structural racism, I think we will also get to addressing some of these problems."

These statements echo what has been happening in the United States in recent weeks, with the protests that erupted following the death of George Floyd. "This is the time to really pay attention to particularly vulnerable groups. Black mothers matter," declared one of the report's authors, Bruce Bekkar, a retired gynaecologist and obstetrician, citing the Black lives matter slogan used by activists in the movement against discrimination.

High-risk pregnancies: the effects of global warming

The analysis carried out by the scientists confirmed that higher temperatures are associated with a greater number of premature births. And bearing in mind that climate change causes increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves, the urgency of the issue becomes clear. Four studies found that high temperatures were linked to an increase in underweight babies and a risk of premature birth of between 8.6 and 21 per cent.

The authors also examined two studies investigating the link between higher temperatures and stillborn babies. One found that, in the period between May and September, for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature in the week preceding delivery, there was a 6 per cent greater likelihood of giving birth to a stillborn baby. Both of these studies also found racial disparities in the data.

These disproportions between different ethnicities are not new. In 2018, a paper had already been published highlighting how Black mothers were 2.4 times more likely to have babies with a low birth weight than white women, while another analysis from 2019 had found that, across several wealthy countries, the risk of delivering stillborn babies was up to twice as high for Black mothers.

Pollution increases risks for unborn children

The report also took into account mothers' exposure to pollution, noting that concentrations of CO2 and fine particulate matter pm2.5 increase as global warming intensifies.

The vast majority of the studies analysed found an increase in high-risk pregnancies, with premature births and low birth weights corresponding to greater exposure to smog. Striking was the finding that identified the connection between the level of air pollution breathed by mothers in the last trimester of pregnancy and the percentage of stillborn babies. The increase recorded in this case was 42 per cent.

Another risk factor, closely linked to air pollution, concerns asthmatic mothers. One of the studies considered found that severe preterm birth (i.e. occurring before 28 weeks of pregnancy) increases by 52 per cent for asthmatic mothers exposed to high levels of air pollution.

Another study, which examined nearly half a million births in Florida in 2004 and 2005, found that the closer a mother lives to a waste-to-energy plant or a power station, the greater the risk of premature birth.

In the case of air pollution too, studies found a greater likelihood of risk for Black mothers. Catherine Garcia Flowers, of the Moms clean air force in Houston, in a letter to the New York Times, emphasised that the document is clear proof that the federal government must tighten regulations against air pollution.

"This is a moment of reckoning for racial injustice and health disparities. Doing nothing to limit air pollution, which clearly has a greater impact on Black Americans, is a form of racism."

Beyond the immediate difficulties that premature birth and low birth weight create for children, families and the healthcare system, the long-term ones must also be considered. Sometimes these birth problems can have lifelong consequences, affecting brain development and predisposition to disease and "laying the groundwork for an entire generation", as explained by Nathaniel DeNicola, another of the report's authors and a researcher in obstetrics and gynaecology at the George Washington University's school of medicine and health sciences.

In short, this study serves as yet another reminder that the decisions we make to address the climate and social crisis will inevitably determine the lives of millions of children. A responsibility that calls each and every one of us to account.