[ad_1]
![](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/02/28/harlan_npr_wandairving_24_custom-30c82a935618b588055fc0e821a6473dad44aa12-s1100-c50.jpg)
Wanda Irving holds her granddaughter, Soleil, in front of a portrait of Soleil’s mother, Shalon, at her home in Sandy Springs, Ga. Wanda is raising Soleil since Shalon died of complications due to hypertension a few weeks after giving birth.
Becky Harlan/NPR
hide caption
toggle caption
Becky Harlan/NPR
![](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/02/28/harlan_npr_wandairving_24_custom-30c82a935618b588055fc0e821a6473dad44aa12-s1200.jpg)
Wanda Irving holds her granddaughter, Soleil, in front of a portrait of Soleil’s mother, Shalon, at her home in Sandy Springs, Ga. Wanda is raising Soleil since Shalon died of complications due to hypertension a few weeks after giving birth.
Becky Harlan/NPR
This week, we revisit an episode from 2018 that looks into how discrimination not only degrades your health, but can cost you your life. We hear the story of Shalon Irving, who died after giving birth to her daughter. Black women like her are 243 percent more likely than white women to die of pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes in the United States. And the latest evidence further supports that this gap is caused by the “weathering” effects of racism.
[ad_2]