02a U.S. Politics – Conservative

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Twenty-two states filed a lawsuit on July 29 challenging a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that would strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys general from Democratic-led states and the governor of Pennsylvania, seeks to block a provision in the legislation that bars organizations providing abortion care and that received more than $800,000 in Medicaid funding in fiscal year 2023 from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. This includes Planned Parenthood health centers.

The states alleged that the provision targeted Planned Parenthood for its abortion advocacy, arguing that it violates the spending clause and First Amendment protections by retaliating against the organization.

The provision would deny low-income individuals access to cancer screenings, testing, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and family planning services, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also argues that the provision would cripple the states’ medical healthcare ecosystem and force them to use state funds to keep affected health care centers operational.

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The U.S. government will borrow more than $1 trillion over the next three months, the Treasury Department projects.

According to the latest marketable borrowing estimates, released on July 28, the Treasury expects to borrow $1.007 trillion during the July-to-September quarter.

This is nearly double the previous estimate of $554 billion in April, “primarily due to the lower beginning-of-quarter cash balance and projected lower net cash flows,” the Treasury said in a statement announcing the estimates.

During the October-to-December period, the Treasury anticipates that it will borrow $590 billion, assuming a cash balance of $850 billion at the end of December.

New data confirmed that the Treasury borrowed $65 billion during the April-to-June quarter and finished the quarter with a cash balance of $457 billion.

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I’m a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda games. Some of my fondest childhood memories involve helping hero Link on his quest to rescue Princess Zelda from the evil clutches of big baddie Ganondorf. But one wonders how Link would react if he discovered the princess he had just risked life and limb to save was a dude in a dress.

The internet erupted earlier this month with news of the casting for the much-anticipated Zelda live-action movie. British actors Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Bo Bragason are set to portray Link and Princess Zelda, respectively.

Activists were enraged that their preferred choice for Zelda, one Hunter Schafer, did not get the part following endless rumors he would. I emphasize he because Schafer is a man who claims to be a woman.

The gender cultists argued that in one heavily stylized photo, Schafer closely resembled Zelda’s appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. If you squint, Schafer could share some features with the titular princess, minus the Adam’s apple and five o’clock shadow, of course.

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The Democratic (read: communist) frontrunner in New York City’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, has made clear his intention to strip citizens of the right to armed self-defense—a position more radical than that of the Soviet Union.

While his proposals to abolish private property and his leniency toward criminal behavior are well known, one of the most chilling elements of his platform is captured in a simple declaration: “We need to ban all guns.”

Not only is this tragically misguided, but it also shows a staunch disrespect for the American way and carries historically ominous implications. The disarmament of civilians has constituted the first step in totalitarian communist regimes throughout history. Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Kim Il-sung all banned firearms before consolidating authoritarian control and ushering in the deaths of millions. Adolf Hitler ruthlessly took advantage of an existing gun registry in the lead-up to the Nazi Party takeover of Germany.

“All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Communist Party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party,” said Mao Zedong.

Mamdani’s position as mayor obviously won’t allot the power necessary to start a revolution, but the 468 square miles of New York City will undoubtedly undergo a devastating crime wave if he strips New York City residents of their Second Amendment rights—and the data proves it.

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The mainstream media’s reaction to President Donald Trump’s trade agreement with the European Union was priceless, as multiple outlets had to admit he got the better end of the deal and achieved a huge victory.

Axios led the way with an article titled “Trump trade deals prove access to the U.S. still matters above all else,” stating that “in the Trump-dominated global economy, the U.S. gets plenty but gives nothing in return.”

They also highlighted “how far foreign leaders will go to safeguard access to the U.S. market,” and called the massive investments from the EU “eye-popping.”

The deal imposes a 15 percent tariff on almost all goods entering the U.S. from the E.U. and requires them to make massive investments in American energy.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the E.U.’s European Commission, said Europe will purchase $750 billion worth of U.S. energy as part of the deal, in addition to making $600 billion of investments in other U.S. endeavors.

The New York Times seemed dumbfounded with their Tuesday headline: “Europe Made Major Trade Concessions to Trump. How Did That Happen?”

<b>WSJ’s Hezbollah Coverage Led by Reporter Who Praises Terrorist Group’s Leaders and Fumes Against ‘The Israeli Enemy’</b>- <i> freebeacon.com</i>

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A freelance reporter who plays a leading role in the Wall Street Journal‘s coverage of Hezbollah has repeatedly praised the terrorist group while condemning “the Israeli enemy,” a Washington Free Beacon analysis has found.

Adam Chamseddine, a Beirut-based reporter, has written or contributed to more than three dozen reports as a freelance contributor for the Journal since last year, including providing coverage of the funeral of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Chamseddine was also the lead reporter for a story on Israel’s use of pagers to assassinate Hezbollah commanders. And he was one of the reporters for a Journal story last week that Iran is rearming its “militia allies,” like Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.

While writing for the Journal, Chamseddine, a former reporter for the pro-Hezbollah newspaper As-Safir, has expressed stark anti-Israel views while hailing groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

He has referred to “the Israeli enemy” in multiple social media posts, according to English translations of his missives, written in Arabic. After Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Chamseddine asserted that “female journalists are dismembered by direct Israeli targeting” and criticized what he said was “Israeli criminality” in response to the Hamas attack, while making no similar condemnation of the terrorist group. He touted an interview “for those who want to understand the Hamas movement” with Tarek Hamoud, the head of the Palestinian Return Centre, which has reportedly been linked to Hamas.

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During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream asked Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) whether a special counsel was warranted following Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s release of documents alleging that former President Barack Obama led the effort to weaponize U.S. intelligence agencies against Donald Trump in 2016.

“Well, you know, the allegations and the conspiracy theories by Tulsi Gabbard would be sad if they weren’t so dangerous,” Crow replied. “She has turned herself into basically a weapon of mass distraction, is what I’ve been calling it, because it’s very clear what’s happening here. She’s trying to curry favor and get back into favor with Donald Trump, and has concocted these theories to do so.”

He added, “But let’s be really clear here that the Russian investigation and allegations of Russian interference into the election, have been the most examined and reexamined finding in the intelligence community history. There have been four investigations, including a bipartisan Senate investigation led under the first Trump administration and led in part by Marco Rubio. That was very, very clear on these findings.”

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“For the children” — the last refuge of the censorious tyrant.

Asked at a joint press conference with President Trump on his European tour earlier this week, Keir Starmer, current occupant of the premiership of the once-great British state, about his regime’s draconian censorship of social media, the PM resorted to the tried-and-true justification that rulers of his ilk always do at the end of their rope: the “children.”

 

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President Donald Trump declared his particular disdain for Jessica Tarlov of “The Five” on Wednesday, voicing annoyance at the Fox News resident liberal co-host after she voiced support for gun control in reaction to Monday’s shooting in New York City.

Tarlov embarked on an emotionally charged monologue after the massacre, in which four people were killed before the shooter committed suicide on the 33rd floor of 345 Park Avenue.

She commended NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams for their reactions to the incident before offering her take on gun control.

First, she agreed with New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s call for a new ban on so-called assault weapons.

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Merriweather is already out of jail on $400 bail, and was indicted on July 10 for other serious charges.

Two of the five suspects sought and charged by police were arrested in connection to the brutal beating that took place in Cincinnati on Friday. The beating was caught on camera and left two people seriously injured. One of the two suspects arrested is already out after posting $400, which represents 10% of a $4,000 bond.

34-year-old Montianez Merriweather and 24-year-old Dekyra Vernon were arrested and identified as two of the five suspects in the case. Police said they were detained on felonious assault and aggravated riot charges, per The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Merriweather has also been indicted for other serious charges in separate cases where he was found to be possessing stolen firearms, carrying concealed weapons, and improperly handling the weapons under disability in a vehicle.

Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge also said that a third person was in the process of being arrested on Tuesday out of the five that have been charged in the incident.

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As New York City grapples with the aftermath of a deadly mass shooting that claimed the lives of four people, including an NYPD officer, Zohran Mamdani, the radical Democrat mayoral nominee, is facing renewed scrutiny over his controversial pledge to “disband” a key police unit.

The pledge, made during his mayoral campaign, has drawn sharp criticism, especially in light of the tragic events that unfolded in Midtown Manhattan on Monday.

Mamdani, currently in Uganda celebrating his wedding, has been vocal in the past about his support for defunding the police.

As a candidate for mayor, he has softened his anti-police rhetoric.

However, his previous pledge to dismantle the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) Strategic Response Group (SRG) remains a point of contention.

The SRG is a specialized unit within the NYPD responsible for responding to civil disorders, riots, and significant public safety events.

 

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Belmont University thought it could remain an incubator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion antics without making too much noise. Too late—we posted the videos showing the university brass openly admitting they’re flouting the law. Sure, they got ahead of the curve regarding re-naming their DEI office, but it’s a distinction without a difference. They thought their secret sauce for avoiding detection was to keep it quiet. Jozef Lukey, Belmont University Assistant Director of Student Success and Flourishing, is quite candid in the videos:

 

 

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“The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

Ghislaine Maxwell’s request for congressional immunity in exchange for her testimony has reportedly been denied. This comes as the House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Maxwell, who is set to appear in a hearing on August 11.

A spokesperson for the committee told the Daily Mail, “The Oversight Committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.”

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, sent a document for the letter demanding that conditions be met in exchange for her testimony. “Public reports—including your own statements—indicate that the committee intends to question Ms. Maxwell in prison and without a grant of immunity. Those are non-starters,” the letter stated.

“Ms. Maxwell cannot risk further criminal exposure in a politically charged environment without formal immunity. Nor is a prison setting conducive to eliciting truthful and complete testimony. The potential for leaks from such a setting creates real security risks and undermines the integrity of the process,” the letter continued.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul responded with the predictable liberal mantra following a shooting incident in New York City on Monday night that left four dead.

Las Vegas, Nevada, resident Shane Tamura, 27, went to the Midtown Manhattan office building at 345 Park Avenue that houses the NFL, Blackstone, and the accounting firm KPMG, among others.

He double-parked his BMW, then proceeded into the building, where he shot off-duty NYPD Officer Didarul Islam and others in the lobby with an M4 rifle before taking an elevator to the 33rd floor of the high-rise and killing himself.

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A historical monument in Fredericksburg, Virginia, commemorating George Washington’s mother was vandalized this past weekend with what appear to be Antifa writings.

The revelation came to light on Monday, when the Washington Heritage Museum disclosed in a Facebook post that the Mary Washington Monument was graffitied on two sides. Pictures released by the organization show one side covered in writing that seemingly reads, “Antifa,” while the other is marked with what appears to be an Antifa “A” symbol.

The monument is located near the University of Mary Washington and Meditation Rock, where Mary “prayed for the safety of her son and country during the dark days of the Revolution.”

As The Federalist has previously reported, Antifa is a far-left organization whose often-violent members routinely operate throughout the United States. The group has been linked to destructive activities like the defacing of public property, including historical monuments.

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice and girlfriend of child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, is threatening to withhold critical information during her testimony before the House Oversight Committee, unless her demands are met.

Maxwell is due to appear before congressional investigators following a subpoena that was issued last week.

The deposition is part of ongoing efforts by Congress to investigate the full extent of Epstein’s sex crimes and the individuals involved.

Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in procuring underage girls for Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and personal abuse, has submitted a letter to House Oversight Chairman James Comer.

Her letter outlines three major conditions before she would agree to testify before Congress.

In the letter, Maxwell’s legal team argues that they need formal immunity for her testimony.

 

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Dr. Vinay Prasad, a top Food and Drug Administration official, stepped down from his position on Tuesday after being accused by right-wing activist Laura Loomer of being a “progressive, left-wing” figure seeking to sabotage the Trump administration.

Prasad was appointed by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary in May to be director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. He was also appointed last month to be the agency’s chief medical and science officer.

Despite garnering conservatives’ support over matters such as his skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines and criticism of pandemic-era mask mandates, Prasad recently drew outrage from factions of the Republican Party, including Loomer, who disagreed with his approach to approving gene therapies for rare diseases and accused him of holding liberal views.

Amid the controversy, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed this week that Prasad stepped down as the FDA’s top vaccine and gene therapy regulator and chief medical and scientific officer.

“Dr. Prasad did not want to be a distraction to the great work of the FDA in the Trump administration and has decided to return to California and spend more time with his family,” a DHS spokesperson said of Prasad, who is also a hematologist-oncologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “We thank him for his service and the many important reforms he was able to achieve in his time at the FDA.”

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In their scramble to find a lifeline, something, anything with any purchase on Donald Trump, Democrats rediscovered Jeffrey Epstein.

Indeed, after years of silence on the matter, in which their kind dominated the highest perches in America – Hollywood, academia, the intelligence community, the military, corporate boardrooms, Congress and the White House – the official communications arm of the party is now tweeting Epstein bait into the public discourse.

It’s because they’re facing a conflagration of their own making. 

Even as the popularity of Trump’s major initiatives loses steam, nothing they say or do seems to increase their own national popularity. So they have broken the emergency glass and grabbed hold of the Epstein Files.

If it smells like desperation, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. It’s also not entirely without merit. 

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Earlier this year, The Federalist highlighted a Wall Street Journal investigation that found taxpayers had spent billions paying for individuals who had enrolled in Medicaid in multiple states simultaneously. The kicker is not surprising but still shocking: As bad as the Journal exposé seemed, the reality is worse.

A new investigation increased both the number of enrollees with duplicate forms of taxpayer-funded coverage and the amount taxpayers are paying for such unnecessary double-dipping. It provides an example — one of many — to rebut leftist claims that the recently passed budget reconciliation bill will somehow destroy the safety net.

The Journal analysis of Medicaid data from 2019 to 2021 found taxpayers spent $4.3 billion over three years, providing duplicate coverage to an average of 660,000 people per year. The Trump administration recently examined what happened after four years of Biden administration policies, designed to promote enrollment in taxpayer-funded coverage at all costs.

The analysis by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of 2024 enrollment data concluded that, last year, “an average of 1.2 million Americans each month were enrolled” in Medicaid in multiple states — nearly double the level of duplicate enrollment cited by the Journal in the opening years of the Biden presidency. Moreover, CMS also noted that another “1.6 million Americans each month were enrolled in both Medicaid” and taxpayer-subsidized coverage on the insurance Exchange plans.

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The “missing minute” from the surveillance video at the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center where Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019 may not be missing after all, CBS News has learned.

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President Donald Trump expressed his frustration with Republican Senate leaders over the lack of votes on his judicial nominees, including his nominees for federal judgeships and U.S. attorney positions. With the August recess fast approaching, the Republican-controlled Senate has confirmed a historically low number of judicial nominees.

As of this report, just one Article III judge has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate when Judge Whitney D. Hermandorfer was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. There are currently 11 nominations awaiting Senate action, three for the courts of appeals and eight for the district courts.

The pace of judicial confirmations in Trump’s second term is historically slow. For comparison, the average number of judicial confirmations by this point in a term stands at 11, with former President Barack Obama having 26 of his nominees confirmed by July 29.

In a lengthy Truth Social post, President Trump pressed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to pick up the pace. “Chuck Grassley, who I got re-elected to the U.S. Senate when he was down, by a lot, in the Great State of Iowa, could solve the ‘Blue Slip’ problem we are having with respect to the appointment of Highly Qualified Judges and U.S. Attorneys, with a mere flick of the pen,” the president wrote, adding that Senate Democrats are determined to block any and all nominees.

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FALLS CHURCH, Virginia — Prostitution is illegal in the state of Virginia, but dozens of brothels nevertheless operate openly in Fairfax County alone, according to local officials.

How did the state’s largest municipality, a wealthy and highly educated suburb of Washington, D.C., become a sanctuary county for pimps, madams, and whorehouse operators? All signs point to the Commonwealth’s attorney, self-styled progressive prosecutor Steve Descano.

County police say their “hands are tied” when it comes to known prostitution businesses, and it seems that the man tying their hands is Descano.

Descano has not explicitly announced the decriminalization of prostitution, but one can better understand the county’s booming prostitution industry by considering Descano’s record of selective enforcement, his policy of not prosecuting most misdemeanors, and his stated willingness to ignore laws that he disagrees with.

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Al Sharpton has responded after President Donald Trump accused the civil rights grifter and several other celebrities of illegally taking large sums of cash in return for their endorsements of Kamala Harris’s failed 2024 presidential campaign.

It comes as Sharpton is once again at the center of controversy.

Trump is accusing Kamala Harris of paying Sharpton, along with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé, for their endorsements in the 2024 election.

In a Monday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sharpton vehemently denied Trump’s claims that he received money for endorsing Harris.

Sharpton insists that the funds in question were given to his nonprofit, National Action Network (NAN).

He claims the money was for get-out-the-vote efforts, not for an endorsement.

“Absolutely not,” Sharpton said, addressing Trump’s accusation.

 

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Crime numbers are falling across the country, and the drop aligns with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

A newly released report from the Council on Criminal Justice shows that crime is now down across much of America.

However, what the report fails to openly acknowledge is the critical role Trump’s tough immigration enforcement policies have played in driving these improvements.

This is no coincidence.

Trump’s steadfast approach to upholding existing laws has proven that America doesn’t need more regulations; we just need leaders with the resolve to enforce the laws we already have.

According to the report, homicides have dropped 17% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year.

 

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On Saturday, RedState reported on a mass stabbing incident that happened at a Traverse City, Michigan, Walmart in which a man began randomly lunging at people with a “folding-style knife” in hand just before 5 pm local time.

11 people were injured after the suspect, now identified as 42-year-old Afton man Bradford James Gille, began his rampage near the check out lines.

According to Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael D. Shea, “citizen involvement” was critical in apprehending the suspect.  “This was a joint effort all the way through to, as I mentioned, the citizens, and thankfully, no one else was injured,” Shea noted during a Saturday evening presser.

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In one of the most aggressive and successful anti-child exploitation crackdowns in U.S. history, President Trump’s Justice Department has revealed the results of Operation Grayskull, a sweeping, international strike that dismantled four high-traffic dark web platforms trafficking violent child sexual abuse materials, exposing a digital cesspool that included over 120,000 registered users and millions of illicit files.

To date, 18 individuals have been convicted in federal court, receiving a combined 300+ years in prison.

The Justice Department detailed how Thomas Peter Katsampes, 52, of Minnesota, became a staff member on one of these despicable sites, personally distributing CSAM, guiding others on how to do so, and helping manage operations. He was sentenced to over 20 years in prison, lifetime supervision, and forced to pay restitution to his victims.

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A man allegedly shouted “I’ve got a bomb!” aboard a plane flying roughly an hour from President Trump’s location in Scotland Sunday.

In a post-9/11 world, stories such as this one are a terrifying reality.

The man also reportedly yelled “Death to Trump!” and “Allahu Akbar!” before fellow passengers took him down on an easyJet flight from London to Glasgow.

The New York Post reported that the incident occurred just one hour after the plane took off and just an hour from Trump’s Turnberry golf course.

In all honesty, this guy was never going to hijack the plane. We trust pilots, flight crews, and the heroes aboard who so often don’t hesitate to act, and our air marshals when flights are stateside.

But what the unnamed perp did accomplish was terrorizing an entire cabin of innocent people.

He claimed he wasn’t trying to kill Trump. He just wanted to “send a message.”

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A majority favor deporting migrants who are residing in the country illegally — another sign voters back President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda — a Marquette survey reveals.

Trump long ran on securing the southern border and deporting illegal aliens, and as he has continued to make good on that promise, he continues to have the public’s backing.

According to the survey, 57 percent across the board favor deporting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, compared to 43 percent who oppose. However, opinions vary on party lines.

An overwhelming majority of Republicans favor deporting illegal migrants — 93 percent. However, support among independents has fallen, as 41 percent now support deporting illegal migrants, compared to 59 percent who now oppose. This represents a significant shift from the results in May, which showed 61 percent of independents supporting deporting illegal immigrants.

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‘Findings suggest structural racism operates differently for white vs minoritized groups,’ researchers say

A new study which found racial minorities living in poor areas actually have a lower risk of mental health problems relating to pregnancy compared to their similarly situated white counterparts shows racism is a “complex” topic, according to the authors.

This paper, published in Social Science and Medicine, hypothesized that residing in “structurally deprived neighborhoods” would be associated with a higher risk of hospital-reported “perinatal mental disorders” for minority populations, while no such association would exist for white mothers due to systemic racism.

“Perinatal” generally refers to the time soon before a birth and up to a year after giving birth.

However, the paper’s authors found that for black, Asian, and Pacific Islander mothers, living in poorer neighborhoods was associated with a lower risk of pregnancy-related mental health problems and that the opposite was true for white mothers.

“Our findings reveal a complex association between structural racism and hospital-reported PMD,” the authors wrote.