Women of Color in Obstetrics
Pregnancy and childbirth can be both joyous and challenging for expecting mothers. There are lots of things to take into consideration when expanding your family, and being nervous about the birth of your child is completely normal. Unfortunately, certain demographics have extra barriers they must cope with. Black infants are more than twice as likely to die than white infants, a racial disparity that is wider today than in 1850. Black women are also three to four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. The disheartening fact about this is that most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, as the CDC says.
When we see statistics like this, many of us have the same initial response — to wonder why or how we can have such a huge health disparity in such a developed country. The fact of the matter is, there are many factors that play a role in the health disparities Black women face in obstetrics. Some of the statistics about people of color having a higher incidence of maternal mortality are as follows:
There are 40.8 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births for Black women and 12.7 per 100,000 for white women.
The maternal mortality rate for Black women has increased from 37 deaths per 100,000 live births to 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2018 to 2020.
In a national study of maternal death and injury, Black women were two to three times more likely to die than white women who had the same condition.
Compared to white women, Black women are twice as likely to experience MMH conditions but half as likely to receive treatment.
Many people believe that poorer, less-educated women are more likely to have negative pregnancy outcomes, and that is why women of color are receiving the care they are in obstetrics. However, studies across the board have shown us the health disparity that Black women are facing is not due to socioeconomic status or education level.
Black women of all different income levels and backgrounds are experiencing the same mortality rates. In fact, studies such as the one published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science show us that even currently, 40% of first- and second-medical students believe Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s because of what they’ve learned in school. This same study revealed that trainees in the medical field who believed Black people are not as sensitive to pain as white people were less likely to treat Black people’s pain appropriately.
This leads us to the next essential question in understanding the impact of racial disparity in maternal care: When women of color are the ones caring for the Black baby, are the mortality statistics the same? The answer is no. In a study conducted on 1.8 million hospital births, the results show us that when Black babies are cared for after birth by Black doctors, their mortality rate is cut in half. Although infant mortality in the United States has been decreasing, the gap between Black and white infants has persisted, Hardeman says. The root, she says, lies in structural racism. Some strategies the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance suggested are:
Acknowledging the role of racism and cultural oppression in the healthcare system
Embedded diversity in the maternal and mental health care teams
Retrain and educate current healthcare professionals on culturally sensitive mental health curriculum
Create mental health screenings that are designed for women of color.
Linda Villarosa from The New York Times Magazine summed it up nicely by saying that our goal needs to be to change the medical system at all stages. Starting at medical school and before, we need to start getting doctors and other medical providers to face the unconscious bias that is affecting the care that women of color receive in the healthcare system.
Sources
Mortality rate for Black babies is cut dramatically when Black doctors care for them after birth, researchers say - The Washington Post
Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2020 (cdc.gov)
Why are black mothers and infants far more likely to die in U.S. from pregnancy-related causes? | PBS NewsHour.
How we fail black patients in pain | AAMC
Mortality rate for Black babies is cut dramatically when they’re delivered by Black doctors, researchers say - News - Patient Safety Learning - the hub (pslhub.org)
Samone Long is a musician, freelance writer, and contributing writer for Hope for Women Magazine. She also serves as a Marketing Assistant for a medical company based in North Carolina. She has a passion for writing about human rights, and social reform. One of her main goals is to inspire minorities to advocate for themselves, educate themselves, and uplift one another.
