Autistic Women's Maternal Health: A Review of the Literature on Prenatal, Birth, and Postpartum Experiences for Autistic Mothers.

Prior autism research has noted a particular death in knowledge related to autistic mothers and their experiences with maternal care. This literature review synthesizes existing research on autistic mothers and their maternal experiences, focusing on the perinatal, birth, postpartum, and early childhood period. This search resulted in a final analysis of 17 articles. This review highlights major disparities between non-autistic women and autistic women across all phases of maternity. In particular, autistic women faced significant stigma and poor understanding of autism from medical providers, did not receive information in accessible forms, experienced distress and sensory overload due to the hospital environment, and had higher rates of postpartum anxiety and depression. Most autistic women still found motherhood to be a rewarding experience, showed resilience in advocating for proper care, and shared intense feelings of love, connection, and empathy for their children. The literature points to the need for leadership from autistic mothers and experts, who can use their lived experience to set priorities and change systems such that autistic women can reach reproductive justice.