black maternal health
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During a Global Health Pandemic, It's More Important Than Ever to Protect Black Mothers
Despite its status as a “developed” nation, about 700 women will die each year from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth in the U.S.—more than any of its peers. Of that number, a disproportionately high number are black women—from 2007 to 2016, black mothers died at a rate of 3.2 times that of white mothers,…
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FiveXmore: Black British Mamas Campaign to Raise Awareness About Maternal Health Disparities
Black women’s ability to get adequate care during pregnancy and childbirth is an international issue. While the United Kingdom has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, black Brits are still five times more likely to die during pregnancy and after childbirth than white women. In response, a group of black women started…
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The Black Maternal Health Momnibus: A Historic Legislative Package Aims to Reduce Maternal Risks
Giving birth has always put women at risk, but for women giving birth in America, it has become a deadly proposition, as the United States has become the most dangerous place to give birth in the developed world. For black women, the risk has been rightfully classified as a crisis, as black expectant mothers are…
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How to Protect Black Moms in America
Each year in the United States, more black women get sick or die during and after pregnancy than the year before. That’s because America is the only developed country in the world where maternal mortality has actually increased in recent decades. The U.S. maternal mortality rate—defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or…
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Two New Studies Find Black and Brown Mothers Less Likely to Have Their Postpartum Pain Evaluated and Addressed
As the fight to lower the black maternal mortality rate continues, two new studies provide new evidence of stark contrasts in the way black and brown new mothers are treated postpartum, versus their white counterparts. Specifically, “Racial Disparities in Postpartum Pain Management” and “Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Postpartum Pain Evaluation and Management,” both published…
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Saving Black Mothers: New California Law Requires Bias Training for Doctors, Medical Providers
Bringing new life into the world can be a perilous journey for any woman, but especially for black women, who, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are at least 3 times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related death than white women. In a bid to tackle the crisis of pregnancy-related deaths…
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A Black Mother Gives Birth to Baby in a Bathtub After Being Turned Away From Hospital
Leo and LeeAnn Bienaime were like many first-time parents: apprehensive, unsure, and deferential to the advice of their doctors. But late last month, when the couple went to the hospital after LeeAnn reported feeling “intense” contractions, doctors told her to go home and come back later. The Bienaimes followed the hospital staff’s instructions. Hours after…
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When Will America Save Black Mothers From Dying? Never, Without Us
“I have taken trauma and turned it into triumph,” says Brittany “Tru” Kellman, founder of Jamaa Birth Village in Ferguson, Mo. At the age of 13, Kellman found herself in an unfamiliar city, running away from a violent home, and pregnant. At 37 weeks into her pregnancy, a physician decided to induce her labor without…
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Reclaiming Our Birthright: Latham Thomas Is Protecting the Birthing Experience for Black Mothers
When Latham Thomas was preparing to give birth to her son, she knew she wanted the holistic birthing experience her Oakland, Calif., upbringing inspired, but the then-recent Columbia University graduate had no idea where to begin. “He was born in 2003, and when I think about 17 years ago [when I was pregnant], there was…
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With a New Baby, Sponsor and Mission, Olympian Allyson Felix Is in the Race to Save Black Mothers
When runner Allyson Felix read fellow Olympian Alysia Montaño’s explosive Mother’s Day op-ed in the New York Times, calling out Nike for the lack of support and protection it offered to its sponsored female athletes in the event of pregnancy, it struck a chord. After all, aside from both being world-class athletes sponsored by Nike,…