black maternal mortality
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26-Year-Old Black Woman Dies Giving Birth After She Was Neglected by Doctors for Weeks, Family Says
Amber Isaac was a little more than a month away from her delivery date, and thrilled about the prospect of finally meeting her first child, a baby boy named Elias. But one issue had her worried: in February, she learned her platelet count was low, a symptom of several conditions that could result in dangerous…
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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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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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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,…
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As Part of a $3 Million Investment, Serena Williams Adds Her Power to the Fight Against Maternal Mortality
What does it mean when the most recognizable female athlete in the world can’t get the attention she needs when suffering complications after giving birth? For Serena Williams, it meant becoming intimately familiar with the crisis currently facing so many black expectant mothers—the threat of a life-or-death outcome. Williams, who documented her own harrowing journey…
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Kamala Harris Reintroduces Bill Addressing the Black Maternal Healthcare Crisis
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris reintroduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (Maternal CARE) Act on Wednesday, her 2018 bill that seeks to address the ongoing black maternal health crisis. “Black mothers across the country are facing a health crisis that is driven in part by implicit bias in our health care system. We must…
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Save Our Moms: Lena Waithe Joins MTV and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to Fight Black Maternal Mortality
Of the many ways in which the United States has long been considered a global leader, there is one which is deeply shameful. “In the past three decades in the U.S., the number of women who die from pregnancy-related complications has more than doubled,” says Lena Waithe, in a new PSA. “Over half of these…
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In the Face of the Black Maternal Mortality Crisis, This Doula Is Providing Expectant Mothers With the Support and Care They Desperately Deserve
The story has to be told in such a way where we’re not making people lose hope. text The specific “story” Chanel Porchia-Albert is referring to is that of the black maternal mortality crisis. She knows all about the daunting statistics surrounding black motherhood as a mother of six and the CEO of Ancient Song…