When a crisis like coronavirus (COVID-19) erupts, it puts a further strain on ongoing public health and social issues. As the Guttmacher Institute points out “the specific risk to pregnant women and their infants is not yet clear, but these groups are often particularly vulnerable to infectious disease threats. Therefore, many experts say an enhanced focus on primary prevention for pregnant women is warranted.” Unfortunately, the current state of maternal health in our country already isn’t so...

Twelve years have passed since the onset of what we call the Great Recession. Now, as the effects of the coronavirus-spawned COVID-19 pandemic send the U.S. economy hurtling into another recession, or possibly depression, and Congress wrestles with designing the components of an urgent policy response, it’s useful to take a quick look back at just how important unemployment insurance (UI) was for workers, families, and the economy overall in that last recession. It is important to note that in...