By India Gardener / Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

In Ohio, the rate of congenital syphilis has increased more than 300%, from 22 cases in 2018 to 93 in 2022. Nationally, syphilis in newborns reached a 10-year high in 2022 with more than 3,700 cases. 

According to the Ohio Hospital Association, untreated congenital syphilis can have harmful consequences, potentially leading to miscarriage, low birth weight, premature birth, and other complications.

According to the CDC, syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection transmitted through direct contact with a syphilis sore. Pregnant individuals with syphilis can pass the infection to their unborn child.

“So that goes to show us that if it's left untreated, then we can have severe complications such as infection to the brain, nervous system, eyes, hearing loss, stroke, and blindness,” said Caroline Kingori, an associate professor of community and public health at Ohio University. “The other thing is it puts someone at a heightened risk of contracting HIV. So when syphilis is untreated during pregnancy, you're putting the mother and the child at risk.” 

Public health advocates say early detection and treatment of the disease is critically important to the health of mothers and babies. Syphilis can cause a wide variety of symptoms or no symptoms at all, at least for a while, so mothers may not know they’re infected — especially if they don’t have ongoing access to healthcare.

“Syphilis symptoms can be delayed,” said Fred Wyand, director of communications of the American Sexual Health Association. “They may not show up immediately, right at birth. It may take a little while. And that's also true when people acquire syphilis with these dull sexual contact symptoms that may not be immediate and then they tend to come and go. Somebody referred to syphilis as the great pretender because you can have symptoms like some skin rashes and ulcers that just clear up and go away, but it didn't. It's still there and can do some damage underneath.”

Public health advocates say the rise could be due to multiple factors, including a lack of testing and treatment. In Ohio in 2021, only 78.6% of babies were born to mothers who received early prenatal care. One in seven infants were born to mothers who received inadequate prenatal care.

Newborns of Black, Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan Native mothers are eight times more likely to have congenital syphilis than those of white women, suggesting the disparity is linked to potential gaps in prenatal care and health insurance access within nonwhite communities.

“If you're dealing with communities that are underserved and rural, you're talking about people who don't have access to health insurance,” Kingori said. “Then the socioeconomic status includes education, employment, and if they don't have income, they're struggling. And if they don't have employment, then they also don't have health insurance. If they do, they're underinsured, and so health becomes secondary to people trying to find an opportunity to eat.”

While healthcare is crucial in preventing the transmission of syphilis to infants, experts say we also need to improve conversations and education about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). 

“About half of young people will have an STD by the time they reach age 25,” Wyand said. “To think about that one out of two people, by the time they reach age 25 in this country, will have an STI. A lot of these cases are undiagnosed. But young people in that age group from the teens up to the mid-20s, bear the highest burden of STI of any age group,” 

The World Health Organization emphasizes that children and adolescents have the right to age-appropriate and developmentally suitable comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) for their health and well-being. 

“Raising awareness is critical,” Kingori said. “It's raising awareness and normalizing the language we associate with sexually transmitted infections. The weight that we give cervical cancer and the concern we produce for that, we should do the same with STIs, with the same empathy. It will help combat that stigma and also find ways to use non-stigmatizing language so that pregnant mothers or pregnant individuals can have access to the prevention and treatment services outside of the judgment.”

According to the Federal Office of Disease and Health Prevention, parents have the greatest impact on a young person's decisions about relationships and sex, even more than friends or the media. Open communication between parents and children leads to delayed sexual activity and a higher likelihood of making healthy choices, such as using condoms to prevent pregnancy and STIs.

“We think a real barrier to all this stuff is that we are not comfortable talking about it and we don't know how to talk about it,” Wyand said, pointing to a resource on ASHA’s website called “Be an Askable Parent.” “And that's not our fault. We're not blaming anybody. You don't know this stuff, but that's a big part of what we do and as we try to help people have these conversations and we give them practical stuff, we just don't tell them you need to talk.”


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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In the final days of the legislative session, Kentucky Senate lawmakers could consider the "Momnibus" bill, which would increase access to critical prenatal and post-birth care for new moms and babies.

House Bill 10 would extend the state's voluntary home-visitation program for expectant parents to when a child reachs age three, and would include lactation assistance and telehealth.

Bonnie Logsdon, a board-certified lactation consultant and birth doula, said many women have to return to work a few weeks after giving birth and often lack the tools or knowledge to have a positive lactation experience.

"They need access to those quality supplies," she stressed, "and they need someone who can teach them how to use the pump, which is again where that lactation support would come into play."

The Momnibus bill would add pregnancy to the list of qualifying life events, so pregnant people could get health-insurance coverage and begin prenatal care visits.

Kentucky has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bill would also expand mental-health counseling through the Lifeline for Moms Psychiatry Access Program.

In Letcher County, Courtney Rhoades said she's had a complex pregnancy, and has struggled to cope with stress and maintaining her physical health. She noted it's critical that first-time moms like herself have a place to turn for support, where they don't feel judged.

"Then to be finding out we're having twins," Rhoades said, "I am really excited to know that there's these programs available that otherwise I didn't know about."

Renee Basham, executive director of Hope's Embrace, said communities increasingly are aware of the role doulas can play in pre- and post-natal care. She added many of her clients need assistance.

"A lot of the clients that we work with, some of them have support, a lot of them don't," said Basham. "Doulas are extra important in that role, because if we weren't there, they wouldn't have anybody with them as they gave birth."

House Bill 10 would open the door to more research on the role of doulas in the birth experience, and how their expertise is being used for care and to reduce disparities in the Commonwealth.


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Advocates for women veterans, who've experienced sexual trauma while serving in the military, are asking state lawmakers for much-needed funding.

Previous legislation backed the creation of two sexual trauma liaisons at community-based organizations in the state, but funding never came to fruition.

Executive Director of the Augusta-based Sisters-in-Arms Center, Rebecca Cornell du Houx, said lawmakers have a chance to help veteran survivors rebuild their lives.

"To have a consistent clinician there to provide that trauma treatment to the woman veteran in a place that they're safe," said Cornell du Houx, "I think, can really, really support their recovery."

Cornell du Houx said one in three women soldiers experience some form of sexual trauma while in the military but many incidents go unreported.

There are more than 10,000 women veterans currently living in Maine.

Women veterans are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the homeless population, and are four times more likely to become homeless than their male peers.

Researchers also now identify military sexual trauma as the biggest factor driving a more than 60% increase in suicide rates among women veterans since 2001.

Cornell du Houx said while group therapy is available to these veterans, state funding would provide for more formalized treatment - especially for those coming off active-duty.

"I think if people knew the stories of what had happened to these women while they were in the service, just really disheartening stories of assault," said Cornell du Houx, "I think that they wouldn't hesitate to fund a position so that they could get help."

Cornell du Houx said sexual trauma is most prevalent among lower-ranking seventeen and eighteen-year-olds, who are influenced to think that reporting an incident is a betrayal of a fellow soldier.

She said it's important to support those who have come forward, to advocate for themselves and others, and who took an oath to serve their country.





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New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is sounding the alarm over the Supreme Court's decision to hear a case that could restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

It is the first major case related to women's reproductive rights since the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

On Tuesday, after hearing oral arguments, the Court seemed likely to preserve access to the medication.

Cortez Masto said the country has witnessed what she calls "the tragic consequences of abortion restrictions," which started with the country's highest court.

"This just goes to show you," said Cortez Masto, "far-right extremists are going to stop at nothing to restrict women's rights when it comes to their reproductive freedom - that is why we can't give up."

Cortez Masto contended mifepristone is safe and effective and is also critical for miscarriage care.

But the case presented to the Supreme Court by anti-abortion doctors claim the Food and Drug Administration acted too quickly in removing restrictions on the drug.

If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, mifepristone access could stop immediately in all states - including those where abortion is legal such as Nevada.

Critics of the drug say it carries significant side effects, include bacterial infections and prolonged, heavy menstrual bleeding.

While mifepristone may not be prohibited all together, restrictions on the pill could be reinstated.

Cortez Masto argued conservative groups never planned to stop with just repealing Roe v. Wade, but adds they are aiming to roll back women's rights all together.

"That is why we can't give up," said Cortez Masto. "We have to continue to use our voices and be advocates to fight for women's rights."

The Supreme Court could make a decision on the case in June.

In the Silver State, a coalition is working to get an amendment on the ballot this November to enshrine abortion rights in the Silver State's constitution.