Racial Discrimination Looms Within Maternity Health-Care
Serena Williams Could Insist That Doctors Listen to Her. Most Black Women Can’t.
We can’t solve America’s maternal-health problem without first acknowledging how racism harms black moms.
Black women are nearly four times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than white women, and are also more likely to experience a severe maternal morbidity such as a heart attack, hemorrhage, sepsis, or blood clots like Williams did, regardless of their level of education or income. In fact, data from the New York City Department of Health show that black college-educated women were more likely than white women who hadn’t completed high school to experience adverse maternal-health outcomes.
SOURCE ⇒ THENATION
