Supermodel Christy Turlington Burns follows her co-cover star Anok Yai in the May 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar US May 2024.

Style Director at Large of Harper’s Bazaar US Carlos Nazario [IG] chooses luxury pieces from Balenciaga, Loewe, Maison Alaia, YSL and more, lensed by Ethan James Green [IG]. / Hair by Lucas Wilson; makeup by Sam Visser

In her interview with Chelsey Sanchez, Turlington Burns quickly turned the discussion to Every Mother Counts [IG], a nonprofit dedicated to improving maternity care for women around the globe. AOC has written about Christy’s maternal health activism since her founding of EMC in 2010.

The most noteworthy — and deeply sad fact, unfortunately — is the increasing activism of Every Mother Counts connected to the alarming increases in maternal health deaths in America.

Pre Dobbs, US Maternal Deaths Doubled Since 1999

PBS reported in 2023 that maternal deaths across America are estimated to have doubled since 1999. The 2022 Dobbs v Jackson decision overturning 50 years of abortion rights in America is causing further rises in US maternal deaths.

In all discussions of maternal health outcomes, women of color disproportionately experience these increasingly harsh outcomes.

Grace Turlington Burns, Christy’s 20-year-old daughter, has infused a fresh sense of urgency into EMC — an energy that has impacted her mother who is a PREEMINENT and influential authority in and out of Washington, DC on this topic of global maternal health.

Anyone who tries to paint Christy Turlington Burns as a privileged white woman dilettante on the subject of maternal health is just plain wrong.