Stock image of an expectant mother.
In 2017, my 27-year-old sister told us she was pregnant. Everyone was excited to go on the journey with her. At the time, I was 11 and had no idea about the cruel circumstances that Black women go through during pregnancy and childbirth in hospitals in the U.S., particularly in Washington, D.C.
As the pregnancy progressed, my sister started having many complications. The first one was so bad that she ended up in hospital.
My sister lives in a place that people call a maternity desert.
A maternity desert is a place with no maternity hospitals nearby so mothers would probably have to take two buses and a train just to get there. My mother is a postpartum doula in training, so that made it an easier experience for my sister. On the day she gave birth, I was told that my sister was in an ambulance.
Since I wasn’t on the scene, I asked my mother what happened. She told me, “When the ambulance arrived, there was a white worker and a Black one as well. I immediately told the white worker who was driving not to take us to Prince George’s Hospital because it’s very well known for putting Black mothers at risk or even killing them before, while, and after birth.”
He replied by telling my mother that P.G. Hospital was the closest and it didn’t matter. After that, the Black paramedic told the white one that he was going to drive instead.
The ambulance arrived at The George Washington University Hospital, which was the place where my mom wanted my sister to go. Their experience in the hospital wasn’t too bad, except they were put in a room close to other mothers giving birth. A person even came in there to ask if my older sister wanted pictures for the baby.
When time came for my nephew’s birth, I was at school. It was nerve racking thinking about my sister and nephew, but I got through it.
Before seeing him, we had to go home and wash. When my father picked up my younger sister, older brother, and me from home, I was nervous and excited at the same time. As soon as we got to G.W Hospital, my mother got us so our dad could park the car. We eventually got to my older sister’s room and I saw her in a bed with my nephew. He was so small due to not getting food in the last couple of days of the pregnancy.
The first thing I thought to ask was how he was born.
My mom then proceeded to tell us that she delivered the baby herself. The doctors and nurses were nowhere to be found, but they rushed in right after. The hospital of course charged her for the birth. My sister would stress because she only had a limited number of weeks until she had to return to work. This to me was a little odd, so I started doing more research on weird birth experiences.
Childbirth and Parental Leave in the U.S.
Once I started reading about more and more weird birth experiences, I found out about parental leave in the U.S.
The U.S is the only place in the world without a paid parental leave system. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows some employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.
When compared to Zimbabwe (one year), Britain (39 weeks), and Kenya (3 months) the U.S’ policy starts looking very unfair. The fact that only 60 percent of working new mothers in the U.S. would even get paid leave is one of the reasons for the stress, anxiety, and postpartum depression that so many experience.
It’s not okay that this is only one of the minor problems that the U.S has when it comes to maternal care.
Making Sense of the Peril that Black Mothers Face
Black women are more likely to survive during childbirth if cared for by a Black doctor.
The first time I heard about this was at school with my cousin. When she told me I thought that it made sense that Black doctors would have a better idea of how another Black person’s body worked. Since my mother is a postpartum doula (in training), asked her if she knew about that.
My mother told me that she did. We had a brief conversation about it.
After the conversation I decided to do research about Black women having a better chance of living if they had a Black doctor. The reason this happens can be dated all the way back to slavery. It is said that non-Black doctors often think Black women do not experience the same amount of pain because of what they were put through during slavery.
This makes more sense as to why Black women are treated horribly in hospital while, during, or after giving birth.
There are many instances where a Black baby has been left motherless after medical professionals didn’t sufficiently treat the mother’s post-birth complications. This also can be simply due to racism, which is a major problem in the world, let alone in hospitals.
Researchers have found that Black women who deliver at these “Black-serving” hospitals are more likely to have serious complications than those who do the same at hospitals serving fewer Black women. This racism does not only affect the mothers, but the children as well.
Call to Action
Even if infant mortality rates have been declining for decades in the U.S, it was found in 2019 that Black babies died at double the rate of white, Asian or Hispanic infants before their first birthday.
This is only a small part of what Black people go through in the U.S. People don’t realise that Black babies and mothers are getting killed. This is normalized and thrown aside in the U.S. We as a nation need to understand this , and do what we can to improve maternal care for all women so we can make room for generations.
The Watoto Speak! 