reproductive health
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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…
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Talking the Stigma out of Infertility: 'You Don't Have to Suffer In Silence'
(Editors note: This is the second installment of a two-part series. You can read the first installment here.) While fertility issues may be increasingly common, the causes are not. Researchers speculate that approximately 10% of women aged 15-44 may be infertile, and that any number of factors can contribute, including the advanced maternal age of…
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Fertility Issues Are More Common Than We Think. Why Haven't We Learned How to Talk About It?
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series. Pregnancy has long been perceived (some might say misconstrued) as something “normal” women can readily achieve. There is a presumption that it’s a natural and easy occurrence. Black and brown women have long been specifically plagued by the stereotype that we are over-productive reproductive machines.…
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What Is Adenomyosis? Gabrielle Union Revealed a Fertility Issue Every Woman Should Be Aware Of
“Towards the end of my fertility journey I finally got some answers,” Gabrielle Union told attendees of the BlogHer conference in New York City on August 8. Union, who has been transparent about her fertility struggles, wrote in her 2017 bestseller, We’re Going to Need More Wine that she’d suffered “eight or nine miscarriages.” But…
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The Love Below: Jada Pinkett Smith and Mom Talk Vaginal Rejuvenation in Red Table Talk
Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk—her hit Facebook series featuring herself, daughter Willow and mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones—has provided us with no end of topics to cover. In the month since its debut, the series has explored a number of intimate matters, including blended families, body issues, “mean girls,” hair loss and the challenges of being…
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Roe v. Wade 45: My Mother and My Abortion
My mother and I were never close. It’s probably because we’re so alike—stubborn, unyielding and always right. It’s hard to have a healthy relationship with someone with whom you spend most of your time butting heads. There were times in my life when my mother and I went months without speaking, only coming together again…
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Shedding Light on Reproductive Health: Understanding Adenomyosis
U.K. native Kat François, 44, is a reputable performance artist, writer and playwright, best known for her televised appearances on the BBC3 Poetry Slam Championships in 2004 and the World Poetry Slam Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2005. But despite her accolades and extensive global résumé, we initially found ourselves bonding over our reproductive-health…
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My Body, My Pain: Listen to Me and All Black Women
Pain has no color. But for black women, how they are treated—and not treated—for reproductive-health pain resonates deeply with historic roots in slavery and brutality. A new study from the University of Virginia shows a proven racial bias in how medical providers assess black patients’ complaints of pain, guaranteeing that medical providers consistently undertreat black…