Racism Increases Black Women's Childbirth Complications, Study Says

According to a sobering report, the stress of racism leads to complications in childbirth.

February 2, 2018

This is a picture of a mother and her baby. — Image via Getty
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As beautiful as motherhood can be, there are particular risks for Black women that can sometimes contribute to a dangerous outcome. Yesterday, a new report from the Center For American Progress shared results that linked the maternal and infant mortality rates among Black women to the stresses caused by racism, according to Colorlines.

As more conversation about the health effects of discrimination keeps popping up, new dialogue about the ways Black mothers are treated medically also continues to come to the forefront. Last month, athlete and new mother Serena Williams shared her experience with post-childbirth health complications, which resulted in surgery to remove blood clots in her lungs that could have been avoided had her nurses acted sooner.

The report's authors, Cristina Novoa and Jamila Taylor, laid out statistics that compared various racial groups of mothers and their infant children, tying the findings to the real effects of racism.

In the report, they make it clear that these statistics remain consistently higher than other races while keeping physical health, socioeconomic status and various levels of access to healthcare in mind. The continued stress associated with racial inequality, employment and housing discrimination, police brutality, lack of representation, and hate crimes all are contributors to a stressful environment.

The report also tackles racism at the institutional level, and the diminished quality of healthcare Black women often receive due to a lack of proper access as well as long-held misconceptions about Black patients' ability to endure pain.

You can read the full report here.