Our Mission

MARA's vision is that every birthing person is empowered throughout the perinatal period to make choices in their own best interest, and receive the social, emotional, and physical support they need. We work to improve the overall health of new and expectant mothers and to prevent maternal death and morbidity through community outreach and creative partnership, legislative advocacy, and culturally informed education.

Worldwide, maternal mortality has fallen by 44% over the past thirty years, while rates in the United States have been rising. Indiana bears one of the greatest burdens of adverse outcomes in the country, ranking 46th in the U.S. for maternal mortality, double the national average (CDC, 2018).

For every maternal death, there are 100 episodes of severe maternal morbidity, or "near misses" that arise from difficult experiences in pregnancy and childbirth (ACOG, 2018). There is a misconception that these adverse maternal health outcomes happen only during delivery, when in fact 80% of maternal deaths and near misses take place after birthing people leave the hospital (Creagna et al., 2017). Maternal deaths and near misses in the U.S. are largely preventable, with improvements to the quality of health care and social support surrounding pregnant and postpartum people (March of Dimes, 2018).