Black Maternal Health Week: Shining a Light on Disparities and Advocating For Fair Reproductive Rights

Birth and pregnancy can be a dangerous and scary process for Black women in the United States. Expectant mothers in the Black community face medical bias and racism from doctors, a lack of access to medical resources and a higher maternal mortality rate than their White peers. Alarming CDC data shows that as recently as 2021, Black women were 2.6 times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy complications than their non-Black counterparts.  Activists and Black mothers around the country say that the time has come for this devastating trend to change. April is National Minority Health Month, with April 11-17, 2024, dedicated specifically to Black Maternal Health Week. The week-long awareness event is designed to put a spotlight on the dire state of Black maternal health care, advocating for reproductive rights and starting the conversation around solutions to eliminate the high rates of maternal mortality around the world.  In light of Black Maternal Health Week, mothers around the U.S. are using the opportunity to speak up about their own experiences and speak out against what they feel could be a political setback to the progress that has been made to protect Black mothers.  “Unfortunately I know firsthand...