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What is causing the Black maternal mortality epidemic, and what can be done to save Black lives? The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income nation in the world — and it is Black mothers who are dying at the highest rates. Black birthing people are three times more likely to die in childbirth, but about 84% of those deaths are preventable. For this episode of Meet the BIPOC Press with our partner URL Media, a network of Black and Brown owned and operated news outlets, Laura Flanders is joined again by co-host Sara Lomax of Philadelphia’s WURD Radio. They invite Marianne Fray, the CEO of Maternity Care Coalition and Kenya Hunter, the Atlanta Health Reporter for Capital B News, to discuss how Black women and birthing people are taking control of their pregnancies. Explore the community-centered responses that may lead to better pregnancy outcomes and a more equitable healthcare system.
“We all came into this world through some person and it is a miraculous thing. If we could spend a little time reflecting on that, and then set up ourselves or whomever chooses to have children with the best possible outcome.” – Marianne Fray
“There was a researcher from the University of Colorado, Boulder, who predicted a 21% jump in pregnancy-related deaths in the country if Roe v Wade was overturned. But that number then jumps to 33% when you’re talking about Black women.” – Kenya Hunter
“. . . Birth was a business practice in many ways. Children were ripped from us. Black women were experimented on by the ‘father of gynecology,’ Marion Sims in the 1840s . . . I do think Black women are carrying a lot of historical trauma related to birthing and childbearing.” – Sara Lomax
Guests
- Marianne Fray: CEO, Maternity Care Coalition
- Kenya Hunter: Atlanta Health Reporter, Capital B News
- Sara Lomax: Co-Founder, URL Media; President & CEO, WURD Radio
Portions of this interview are featured in our episode, “Black Maternal Mortality: How Do We Save Black Lives?”
