“When the State Fails: Maternal Mortality and Racial Disparity in Georgia,” report by the Yale Global Health Justice Project (GHJP) in collaboration with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA) and the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR)
For me birthwork is more then a passion, it is a necessity.
I definitely recognize and benefit from the usual privilege afforded to other cis-gendered, able-bodied, college-educated folx. However, when it comes to pregnancy and the postpartum period those privileges don’t amount to much.
Because you see, before I’m anything else, I’m a black woman.
https://dph.georgia.gov/maternal-mortality
The simple act of being born in this skin and this body means I’m “nearly 3 times as likely to die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth compared with white women.” (Via JAMA)
Birth is hard, but staying alive – and thriving – should not be.
And that is why I do it. Because as a black woman my life, as well as the lives of others in my community, are on the line and our lives are worth saving.
Further Reading:
https://www.npr.orig/2017/12/07/568948782/black-mothers-keep-dying-after-giving-birth-shalon-irvings-story-explains-why
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/01/giving-birth-in-united-states-suprisingly-deadly/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/magazine/black-mothers-babies-death-maternal-mortality.html
