A 2019 report that looked into maternal morbidity in the UK found that Black women are five times more likely to die during pregnancy and child birth compared to white women. It is also reported that Asian women are twice as likely to die compared to white women.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Black women are three to four times likely to die during child birth in the United States.
Many of you will have heard the name Serena Williams. She is a number one tennis player and one of the best athletes of all time. In 2018 Serena gave birth to her first child via C-section, 24 hours later she almost died.
William’s started to experience shortness of breath, she says “I didn’t wait a second to alert nurses” Serena said she had a pulmonary embolism which is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs become blocked by a blood clot. This was a condition she had a history of she says “I live in fear of this”
“But there’s a bigger problem, basically, black women are undervalued. They are not monitored as carefully as white women are." - Dr Ana Langer.
What are some of the main factors for this disparity?
It has been said that hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (such as pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, gestational hypertension and chronic hypertension) contribute to more pregnancy related deaths among black women than white women.
Source: MBRRACE
Does child birth have a race problem?
Dr Ana Langer, director of the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath in Boston said “the reasons behind the racial disparities are many and complex, Lack of access and poor quality of care are leading factors, particularly among women at lower socioeconomic levels.”
“But there’s a bigger problem, basically, black women are undervalued. They are not monitored as carefully as white women are. When they do present with symptoms, they are often dismissed” says Langer.
Amber Rose Isaac was a healthy 26 year old from New York City who had concerns that she may not survive the birth of her son. Unfortunately that fear became a reality. Her heart stopped during her c-section, she sadly died and didn't get to meet her son. Isaac tried to alert her doctors that her platelet levels (which help to stop blood clots) had started to drop but her concerns were initially ignored.
What's even more alarming is in New York City, black women are nearly eight times more likely to die from pregnancy related conditions than their white counterparts.
Serena Williams’s concerns were initially dismissed. In her case it took some pleading for her medical team to do the CT scan she said she needed. Had she not recognised her symptoms and persisted they may not have discovered the clots in time, if this was the case she may not have been here today to tell her story.
American singer-songwriter Beyoncé suffered with complications in her pregnancy when she was pregnant with her twins Rumi and Sir, she had pre-eclampsia. The condition left her whole body swollen, she was confined to bed rest for more than a month before she had an emergency C-section.
Someone I know experienced the same symptoms for pre-eclampsia (whole body swelling up) during her pregnancy, although in this case her symptoms were sadly dismissed and unfortunately she lost her baby girl at 8 months pregnant due to negligence.
Even if you are successful and affluent (like Serena and Beyoncé) you can still be impacted by pregnancy and birthing complications.
When doing my research I read many stories from black women who came forward to share their horrific pregnancy and birthing experiences.
It’s unfortunate that these types of stories resonate with many black women all over the world; it also reveals to us that the disparity in pregnancy related death for black women is a very complex problem.
Dr Ana Langer says “It’s basically a public health and human rights emergency because it’s been estimated that a significant portion of these deaths could be prevented”
The fact that deaths could be prevented, raises even more concern.
Janet Fyle a senior midwife and professional policy advisory shared her views on this. She adamantly believes that underlying prejudice among midwives is a crucial factor in the deaths of black mothers: “Black women are categorised according to a white perspective: they are not believed, this notion of them having a higher threshold for pain and these biases mean that we miss serious conditions or the opportunity to escalate serious changes in the woman’s condition in a timely way”
Life should be protected in the womb and the delivery room.
Women should have the freedom to say “I am struggling in this, rather than be shut down and told “this is normal” or “it’s probably your hormones” or “you have nothing to worry about” even if this often is the case, we can’t ignore the disparity here. If black women are at a higher risk in pregnancy then why are they not being thoroughly examined and monitored?
Jayne Fyles shares her perspective on this.......
This goes back as far when people are studying medicine. “They practice as students on white women and with no opportunity to understand differences,” she says “people are getting things wrong because they are not culturally competent, for example, doctors, nurses and midwives have the standard patient profile in their heads as being a woman who is blonde, blue eyes and size 12. It’s everything about the concept of medicine”
Learn to do good; Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow - Isaiah 1:17
Changes do need to be made to better protect all women during pregnancy and child birth and as a country that is blessed with lots of different nationalities, we need to be better prepared, and there needs to be more specific training to help those women who may be at a higher risk and get these statistics down.
If you are pregnant and feel something isn't right, alert your midwife and if you feel like your concerns are not being taken seriously, get a second opinion. Do what ever it takes for your own peace of mind. This is your pregnancy and it's important that you feel you're getting the right care for your baby.
Lastly, If prejudices and unconscious bias are part of the reason pregnancy-related mortality in black women is so high, then we must express our disapproval of this kind of treatment and seek justice for these women and their babies. These women need to know their lives and their babies lives matter, they both need to feel protected from the womb to the delivery room.
Our hope and prayer is that one day no woman or baby would die from pregnancy or childbirth.
Please note: I have intentionally used quotes from health care professionals in this blog as I to be on the statistics and my thoughts alone. I wanted to bring a perspective from people who are medically trained and women who have been affected by childbirth complications directly. Hopefully the stories and quotes will help to increase your understanding on this complex issue and prompt you to do your own research.
Love & Blessings,
Choose Life Ministries
Sources
MBRRACE-UK Maternal Report 2019
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