Black, American Indian, and Alaska Native women in the U.S. are 2–3x more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women, reflecting structural racism across housing, insurance, food access, and healthcare quality. Addressing these inequities through culturally competent care and digital health directly expands women’s economic power and agency by reducing adverse outcomes that perpetuate intergenerational poverty. The impact thesis is clear: lowering preterm births and complications not only saves lives but also reduces high hospital costs. Nearly half of U.S. births are covered by Medicaid, and payers and providers stand to benefit from scalable interventions. The market is large: ~4M births annually, 50% of counties lack obstetric services, and femtech attracted $688M in H1 2020 but remains underfunded
