I want to begin this week by thanking you all for the warm and so very toasty welcome you gave the inaugural episode of “Spilling Chai” earlier this month. Thank you for subscribing, reviewing, and most importantly, listening to us!

So it’s isolation days here in Washington, DC and quite frankly time could not be passing any slower. We are all feeling isolated, frustrated, and frankly, scared of what’s to come. But if there’s something at the forefront of all of our minds, aside from when the heck we can get out of our homes, it’s health: Our own health, our family’s health, the health of our kids, the health of our elderly parents or grandparents.

Although we’ve been told that it’s older people who are most at risk for coronavirus, as a mother, and someone who has worked in women’s health and rights for most of my professional career, what I’ve been thinking about is what a scary time it must be right now to be pregnant. Pregnancy can sometimes be an uncertain and stressful period in the best of circumstances. But during a pandemic, that anxiety can quickly multiply.

Well, no one knows more about women’s health, especially maternal health and rights than our guest today, Dr. Jamila Taylor! Jamila recently became the Director of Healthcare Reform at the Century Foundation, and we are truly lucky to have her with us today to talk about all things pregnancy, women, and health.