Structural Racism, Mass Incarceration, and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity

Racial and ethnic inequities in the criminal-legal system are an important manifestation of structural racism. However, how these inequities may influence the risk of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) and its persistent racial and ethnic disparities remains underinvestigated.

To examine the association between county-level inequity in jail incarceration rates comparing Black and White individuals and SMM risk in California.

This population-based cross-sectional study used state-wide data from California on all live hospital births at 20 weeks of gestation or later from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2018. Data were obtained from hospital discharge and vital statistics records, which were linked with publicly available county-level data. Data analysis was performed from January 2022 to February 2023.

Jail incarceration inequity was determined from the ratio of jail incarceration rates of Black individuals to those of White individuals and was categorized as tertile 1 (low), tertile 2 (moderate), tertile 3 (high), with mean cutoffs across all years of 0 to 2.99, 3.00 to 5.22, and greater than 5.22, respectively.

This study used race- and ethnicity-stratified mixed-effects logistic regression models with birthing people nested within counties and adjusted for individual- and county-level characteristics to estimate the odds of non-blood transfusion SMM (NT SMM) and SMM including blood transfusion-only cases (SMM; as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention SMM index) associated with tertiles of incarceration inequity.

This study included 10 200 692 births (0.4% American Indian or Alaska Native, 13.4% Asian or Pacific Islander, 5.8% Black, 50.8% Hispanic or Latinx, 29.6% White, and 0.1% multiracial or other [individuals who self-identified with ≥2 racial groups and those who self-identified as "other" race or ethnicity]). In fully adjusted models, residing in counties with high jail incarceration inequity (tertile 3) was associated with higher odds of SMM for Black (odds ratio [OR], 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01-1.29 for NT SMM; OR, 1.20, 95% CI, 1.01-1.42 for SMM), Hispanic or Latinx (OR, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.14-1.34 for NT SMM; OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.14-1.27 for SMM), and White (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.93-1.12 for NT SMM; OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.02-1.17 for SMM) birthing people, compared with residing in counties with low inequity (tertile 1).

The findings of this study highlight the adverse maternal health consequences of structural racism manifesting via the criminal-legal system and underscore the need for community-based alternatives to inequitable punitive practices.