America's Black Maternal Health Crisis: The Doulas & Medics Creating Safe Spaces For Black Mothers

I’ve been looking into this issue for two months as part of our Black Mother-Hood Series, documenting how Black women in America like me have been impacted by our health system.

To escape the racial inequities in healthcare, some are seeking other options and rejecting hospital births for alternatives like home births aided by the expertise of a doula. While others are choosing not to have children all-together.

Black women in America are much more likely to die from complications surrounding pregnancy and childbirth than white women. And while there has been an uptick in research studies looking into the matter, the reports only confirm what these women already knew - being Black and pregnant carries a lot of risk.

Doctors have spent decades trying to understand what makes African-American women so vulnerable to losing their babies. Now, there is a growing consensus that racial discrimination experienced by Black mothers has much to do with it.

Systematic racism throughout the healthcare system in America has long created a divide in the treatment that Black women get during their pregnancy, this is according to studies conducted by the The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and others.

The stark figures, which revealed Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, have raised serious questions

What is being done to reduce Black maternal mortality – how will Black birthing women be supported during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum?

I’ve been looking into this issue for two months as part of our Black Mother-Hood Series - documenting how Black women in America like me have been impacted by our health system and what I found is shocking.

To escape the racial inequities in America’s healthcare system, many Black women are seeking other options – rejecting hospital births for alternatives like home births or birth centres, aided by the expertise of a midwife and/or a doula. But some are choosing not to have children all-together.

Latham Thomas, a doula and founder of Mama Glow, a pregnancy wellness center and doula training program based in New York City, told 'Parents.org' last year: "What's interesting is that you don't have to have had your own experience that was adverse, you could just know about someone else's to build mistrust," she said, adding, "You feel like you're stuck in your tracks. I hear a lot that people are fearful enough to not even pursue the idea of a family."

Dr. Kamaria Washington, who works as a physical therapist, and pelvic health expert specialising in creating a safe space for Black birthing women told Awallprintss that being Black isn’t what puts Black women at risk.

Instead - she said the "racism associated with blackness is what puts Black women at risk during pregnancy and childbirth.

“The issue is institutional racism across the board. When you think about the experience in general, it’s supposed to be something where you’re supported, where you have a village, where you have a community,”

She suggests “community kindness” along with a change in policies and funding could serve as a start to reshape the Black maternal mortality narrative.

“All of those community kindness aspects are something doulas do already, but what if we did that as a community at large? What if we brought a new mum a meal? What if we allowed space for a mentally exhausted mum to cry? That would be a start,” she told Awallprintss.

Last year - in a viral tweet a Black woman published a video explaining how her doula had supported her throughout her pregnancy and after the birth of her child.

While some praised her for prioritising her mental health and getting enough support - others referred to her as lazy. It seemed despite how long doulas have been in existence - people still do not understand their many purposes.

Christine Eley is a certified birth and postpartum doula, as well as the owner and CEO of Womb Intensive Systematic Holistic Care, LLC (Womb-ISH). Eley’s pregnancy care centre is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, offering everything from birthing support services to doula training.

“We, as black women, don’t receive the level of care and support we deserve,”

“We go to our prenatal appointments, and we don’t get the answers that we need. Sometimes, we’re even too afraid to ask questions, or we don’t even know what to ask,” Eley told Awallprintss.

This is, in part, why Eley decided to answer the call to advocacy and not only become a certified doula herself but also help other women do the same. With this, women might feel more empowered to labour on their own terms, in the comfort of their home, if medically feasible.

“Natural birth, for me, is important because I know that we can do it, and I don’t want to see women putting themselves at risk with [medical] interventions. With every intervention we have, there’s a possibility that it can go [wrong], and that’s what we’re trying to avoid.”Eley opted to do her own three births unmedicated. She wanted to fully experience birth and all the feelings associated with it.

“I knew that my body could do it. I knew that the medical interventions that were being presented to me were not of benefit to my body, but of gain to someone else. And for something so sacred and important as bringing my child earthside, I wanted to be able to feel all the feels. I wanted to be able to experience it the way that it was intended, and I had to rid all of that fear out of my heart.”

The conversation of reproductive health equity cannot be had without addressing the racial bias of medical providers and the racial discrimination often felt by black patients. Bias impacts the quality of care and disrupts a Black patient’s trust in their providers and the medical community.

Dr. Lynette Wynn, a resident physician OBGYN at Morehouse School of Medicine was drawn to reproductive endocrinology with the understanding that a woman’s health dictates the health of a country.

“How we treat women and how we promote their health is indicative of the well-being of a country, a state, you name it.

“I think because there’s already a lot of mistrust in the health field, a lot of people don’t believe their doctors. My goal is to partner with the patient, so she receives the background science I know while still having the experience she desires," Dr. Wynn told Awallprintss.

Dr. Wynn believes reducing black maternal mortality requires an approach involving patient, provider, and public health policy. It also requires a shift in priority from the provider.

“Even more than giving a woman exactly what she wants or what she’s asking for, making it your priority to hear her is most important. I think that is what really makes a world of difference. It seems small, but it’s very big to the patient,” Dr. Wynn told Awallprintss.

“A lot of women do desire those alternative birthing options, and I would say, from [a physician's] perspective we consider those birthing alternatives for low-risk women, and I’m hard-pressed to find many black women I’d call low risk. We know to a certain extent, race is playing a role, but there’s no physiological scientific background to that.

"We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on there and why black women, even those in good health, are more susceptible to complications throughout pregnancy and birth,” Dr. Wynn continued.