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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Voters in Arizona overwhelmingly supported and approved Proposition 139 last week, which enshrines abortion rights into the state's constitution.

The measure will allow abortions up to fetal viability, which is about 24 weeks.

But Fatima Goss Graves - president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center - said while ballot measures expanding access to abortion won in seven of the ten states this election, she contended there are still countless ways to restrict and upend abortion access even further, including nationwide.

"There is a long list of ways to target birth control, to target fertility treatments, to target our ability to control our own bodies, and to be fully equal in this society," said Graves. "We know that road will be long and hard."

Over the weekend Arizona was officially called for former President Donald Trump, awarding him the state's 11 electoral college votes.

Graves said Trump has promised to veto a national abortion ban, and to distance himself from the conservative playbook Project 2025.

She said reproductive rights advocates, like herself, expect the next administration to deliver on those campaign promises.

The state has a number of abortion restrictions and laws that directly conflict with Prop 139.

Until the election results are officially certified by Gov. Katie Hobbs later this month, pro-choice advocates say they'll likely file legal challenges to deem those current restrictions unconstitutional.

In a statement, the It Goes Too Far Campaign - a group opposing the measure - says "the fight against extreme abortion laws will continue."

Monica Simpson is the executive director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

She said while all eyes need to stay on the Trump administration, advocates must also continue to lift up "powerful programs."

"I want us to be able to find a balance in doing that," said Simpson, "and work together as the organizations and entities that we are, to be able to make sure that we give ourselves the power and the fuel that we need over these next four years."

Simpson said while it is crucial to keep an eye out at the policy level, advocacy will also be a key part of the fight moving forward.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Oregon has the third highest percent of women in city government, according to a new report from Rutgers University.

It may be proof of the success of organizations working to support and encourage women to run.

Groups like Emerge Oregon and Vote Run Lead Action train women and nonbinary people to run for office - and win.

Emerge Oregon alums currently hold more than 100 elected positions on city councils, school boards and in the legislature.

Beyond campaigning and fundraising, women receive support to overcome gender-based barriers.

The group's outgoing director, Annie Ellison, noted that the political system wasn't designed with women - particularly women of color - in mind.

"This is a system that was built - like, pretty immaculately - to keep women and women of color out, even if it's not the intention now," said Ellison. "When do we have city council meetings? You know, most of these city council meetings are unpaid, and they're at 7:00 at night. If you're a caregiver, that's bedtime."

But research shows that female elected officials bring more money back to their districts, pass more bipartisan legislation, and get more done overall.

State Director of Vote Run Lead Action, Becca Phelps, said the challenge isn't just getting more women into office - it's keeping them there.

She said in the past few years, several women in the Oregon Legislature have had to leave prematurely or not run again, citing the low pay and added responsibilities of daily life.

This is where organizations can step in to fill these gaps - advocating for higher pay, helping with childcare and transportation costs, even providing emotional support.

"Sometimes," said Phelps, "it's that personal care of having a friend check in on you to see how you're doing when you're an elected leader."

After Tuesday's election, 15 graduates of Emerge Oregon programs may be in the Oregon House and four may hold seats in the Senate.

Ellison added that the biggest barrier women face in running for office is confidence.

"If he can do it, you can do it," said Ellison. "And here's how you're going to do it, and we're going to help you."




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A federal nutrition program for low-income moms and babies now includes canned fish and beans, whole grains such as quinoa and cornmeal, and more money for fruits and vegetables.

Theda Simpson, a former participant in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children from Metcalfe County, said she relied on the funds for extra help paying for supplemental formula for her daughter and sons, who had milk allergies as infants. She found out about the program through her local health department and stressed it was a lifesaver for preventing her children from going hungry.

"I hope that every mother finds out about it, knows about the program, is able to access and get the help that they need to be able to feed their children," Simpson emphasized.

Under the new changes, children ages 1-4 will now receive $24 per month, pregnant and postpartum women will now receive $43 per month and breastfeeding women will now receive $47 per month, under recent USDA updates.

Research has shown the WIC program helps improve pregnancy outcomes, including lower incidences of premature births, infant mortality and low-birthweight babies.

Karena Cash, data and research director for Kentucky Youth Advocates, said WIC is not reaching every available mom or mom-to-be in the state, although advocates have been doing work to reach more households, especially in Latino communities and among kinship caregivers. The data show two of every eligible five families are not participating in the program.

"About 96% of infants in Kentucky are enrolled, whereas only about 60% of women and 51% of eligible children one to five," Cash reported. "We see some pretty big discrepancies."

Tanya Torp, executive director of the nonprofit Step By Step in Lexington serving young, single mothers and their babies, said a major barrier is a lack of understanding among grocery stores about how WIC works and what products are covered under the program.

"For us, being able to work with some of the stores is going to be really important," Torp explained. "To train the employees at the stores so that they will be able to help when someone comes in and asks questions about WIC."

Advocacy groups have developed an online toolkit for local communities and leaders, and professionals who serve young children to help get the word out about the WIC program. Nationwide, more than 6 million women and children rely on WIC each month.


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