Rutgers Study: Women of Color Describe NJ’s Perinatal Care — Progress and Persistent Inequities
A community-led Rutgers Health study interviewed 96 Black and Latina mothers across NJ. Real gains, real gaps — and a model for who should be asking the questions.
A community-partnered study out of Rutgers Health, published in early 2026, examined the pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum experiences of women of color across New Jersey. A research team that included six Black mothers as co-investigators interviewed 96 Black and Latina women who had given birth in the previous two years.
NJ Releases Updated Maternal Health Data: 86.7% of Pregnancy-Related Deaths Were Preventable
Ahead of Maternal Health Awareness Day, NJ’s updated mortality review found nearly 32% of pregnancy-related deaths occurred in labor or the postpartum year — and most could have been prevented.
The New Jersey Department of Health released an updated Maternal Health Hospital Report Card and Mortality Review Committee findings in January 2026, ahead of the state’s Maternal Health Awareness Day. The headline number: 31.7% of pregnancy-related deaths occurred during labor, delivery, or the year after birth — and 86.7% were judged preventable.
Murphy Signs Doula & Midwife Awareness Law as Part of Maternal Health Package
Four new NJ laws expand maternal and infant health — including a statewide public awareness campaign on doula and midwife services across pregnancy and the postpartum year.
In January 2026, Governor Murphy signed four maternal and infant health bills into law. One, S3091/A4222, requires the NJ Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority to run a public awareness campaign on the benefits of doula and midwife services across prenatal, birthing, and postpartum care — with explicit emphasis on culturally competent care.
Murphy Signs Law: Every Pregnant Patient Must Be Offered a Personalized Postpartum Care Plan
S912/A3887, signed November 18, 2024 and effective in May 2025, requires providers to start postpartum planning as early as the first trimester — and to hand patients written postpartum care information before discharge.
Under S912/A3887, signed by Governor Murphy on November 18, 2024 and taking effect in May 2025, NJ health professionals must offer pregnant patients a postpartum planning session — ideally beginning in the first trimester — and provide written postpartum care information before hospital discharge. The state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee has found that nearly a third of pregnancy-related deaths occur during labor, delivery, or the postpartum year, and that the large majority were preventable — often because patients weren’t sure what counted as an emergency after discharge.
NJEDA Funds “New Baby New Jersey” Innovation Center for Maternal & Infant Health in Trenton
NJEDA approved funding for the New Baby New Jersey Strategic Innovation Center inside Trenton’s Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center — with perinatal mental health named as a core focus.
On January 7, 2026, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved funding for the New Baby New Jersey Strategic Innovation Center, a 5,000-square-foot research and development space inside Trenton’s Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center. Managed by Plug and Play in partnership with the NJ Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority and Rowan University, the center is meant to drive new solutions in maternal care equity, digital health, doula support, perinatal mental health, and public benefits access.
Research · Maternal Mental Health
1 in 5 New Mothers Will Experience a Perinatal Mood Disorder
Postpartum depression and anxiety are the most common complications of pregnancy — more common than gestational diabetes. Most cases still go undiagnosed.
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) affect as many as 1 in 5 birthing parents, according to the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance and the New Jersey Department of Health; the CDC puts postpartum depression alone at about 1 in 8. That makes them more common than gestational diabetes or preeclampsia. And in the CDC’s review of pregnancy-related deaths from 2017 to 2019, mental health conditions were the leading underlying cause.
New Jersey’s Universal Screening Law: What It Actually Requires
NJ requires postpartum depression screening before hospital discharge and at early postnatal check-ups. Here’s what that looks like in practice — and what to do if your provider skips it.
New Jersey was the first state to require routine screening for postpartum depression. Under P.L.2006, c.12, providers of postnatal care must screen birthing parents before hospital discharge and again at early postnatal check-ups. The law applies to providers across the state — including Central NJ communities like Kendall Park, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Edison.
Fathers · Research
Paternal Postpartum Depression Is Real — and Underdiagnosed
About 1 in 10 fathers develop depression in the first year after their child’s birth. It looks different than maternal PPD, and almost no one is screening for it.
Roughly 10% of new fathers develop depression in the first year after a child’s birth, according to a JAMA meta-analysis and a national cohort study in Pediatrics. The rate climbs sharply when the mother is also depressed.
Research · Neuroscience
The Postpartum “Hormone Cliff” Is a Real Neurobiological Event
In the days after birth, estrogen and progesterone drop more sharply than in any other normal human event. Researchers are mapping how that reshapes the brain.
Within 72 hours of delivery, estrogen and progesterone fall by roughly 90–99% from their pregnancy peaks. It is the steepest hormone change a healthy adult body ever undergoes, compressed into days.
Where to Get Perinatal Mental Health Care in Central NJ
From the state’s Family Health Line to local outpatient programs in Middlesex and Somerset Counties — a starting map for families looking for care.
If you’re looking for perinatal mental health care in Central New Jersey, three places are worth knowing first. The NJ Family Health Line (1-800-328-3838, weekdays 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) provides free, confidential support and referrals to local providers, including specialists trained in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Postpartum Support International’s warmline (1-800-944-4773) is national but routes to NJ coordinators.
Education · Postpartum Anxiety
Scary Intrusive Thoughts Are a Symptom — Not a Warning About You
Up to 90% of new parents report unwanted, intrusive thoughts about harm coming to the baby. Knowing what they are — and aren’t — changes everything.
Research consistently finds that the vast majority of new parents experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts about something bad happening to the baby — dropping them, the stairs, the bath, the knife on the counter. These thoughts are ego-dystonic: they horrify the person having them, which is the opposite of how someone planning harm would feel.
The Fourth Trimester shares education, not medical advice. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988. For perinatal support any time, call PSI at 1-800-944-4773 or the NJ Family Health Line at 1-800-328-3838.