During her 14 years working as an OB-GYN in Greenville, Dr. Lakeisha Richardson has seen five patients diagnosed with breast cancer during their pregnancies.
Most of them did not have health insurance prior to pregnancy, so going to the doctor for annual checkups was neither affordable nor routine. They missed out on clinical screenings and the chance to learn whether they were at higher risk of breast cancer.
Pregnancy does not cause breast cancer, but it can make it grow and spread more quickly, and breast cancer associated with pregnancy has a lower survival rate. For Richardson’s patients without health insurance, pregnancy brought Medicaid coverage that allowed them to go to the doctor for prenatal visits, and that was when their cancer was diagnosed.
One of Richardson’s patients died from breast cancer a few weeks after giving birth.