April is National Minority Health Month, and organizations are highlighting areas in healthcare that can go underserved. Black Maternal Health Week was founded by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and highlights the struggles that come with pregnancy in Black women, even when it is considered “healthy.” Experts are raising awareness about some of the ways birth can become less stressful.
“For the overall majority of women in the United States, we could have better birthing experiences,” Dr. Kaytura Felix, the founder of Black Birthing Futures, said. “White women, I mean, all of us could have better. I think it's really important for us to recognize that. For black women, it is stark. It is worse. We carry a lot of the burden.”
Felix said pregnancy is stressful for all women, but especially Black women whose bodies may have more wear due to societal structures. She said issues like pollution, segregation, and financial stress add pressure to pregnancy at an already stressful time.
“I think it's really important to understand that innately our bodies, Black women's bodies are healthy. It's the systems around us that do not support us. So the midwife said to me, think of it as a Black woman being pregnant. running a marathon and fighting a war while running a marathon. It's just too much.”
Felix is a proponent for funding midwives and doulas who can offer more support than the usual medical system. These outside helpers can manage stress, nutrition, blood pressure and incidentals a typical doctor can’t monitor 24-7.
“Yes, we can talk about the crisis and the challenges, but also bring forward that we have solutions and that there's something we can do today…” Felix said.
Felix sees midwifery as a preventative function that can ease an already overburdened healthcare system. She said she wants to ensure that the systems in place are going to work towards making pregnancy and birth a smoother, calmer experience.
“Mothers are coming in to pregnancy with that stress experience, and I think the failure is in the system not appreciating that and not working to remedy that,” Felix said.
To learn more about Black Maternal Health Week and the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, visit their website.
