Explanation

An April 11, 2018 article in the New York Times Magazine titled, “Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis”, highlighted this tragic and unfair disparity. One letter to the editor stated: “This is a touching human story. But it is also a story of race, class and hypocrisy. The human elements are obvious and well told. But the statistics on maternal death and infant mortality tell a story of a nation that refuses to provide adequate medical services for its citizens.” Black women in the U.S. suffer from life-threatening pregnancy complications twice as often as White women, and they die from pregnancy-related complications four times as often as White women. When mothers die, it breaks down families and can lead to negative health consequences for their children. This is a crisis about human rights. Human rights standards surrounding safe pregnancy, childbirth, and respectful maternal care are rooted in the human rights to life, health, equality, and non-discrimination. Governments must ensure these rights by creating enabling conditions that support healthy women, healthy pregnancies, and healthy births. Fundamental human rights are violated when pregnant and birthing women endure preventable suffering, including death, illness, injury, mistreatment, abuse, discrimination, and denials of information and bodily autonomy. A human rights based approach to maternal health in the United States requires the government to directly confront racial discrimination in the context of maternal health and to specifically address the harms and inequalities faced by Black women during pregnancy and childbirth. Preventable maternal mortality is a human rights crisis in the United States. The U.S. is one of only 13 countries in the world, and the only country with an advanced economy, where pregnancy-related deaths are on the rise. Women in the U.S. are more likely to die from pregnancy complications than those in 45 other countries. The incidence of poor maternal health outcomes is worsening. Both the likelihood of experiencing a severe pregnancy complication and dying from it are on the rise in the United States. Although the U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other country, maternal health outcomes are deteriorating overall and racial disparities are as wide as they were in the 1930’s. The risk of dying from a pregnancy complication should not depend on one’s race or zip code. But the reality is that women in the South are at a much higher risk than women in other areas of the country. A Black woman in Mississippi is almost twice as likely to die from complications of pregnancy and child birth compared to a White woman in Mississippi or a Black woman in California. Maternal mortality affects Black women of all socio-economic backgrounds. Racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths show that across all income and education levels, Black women in the U.S. are at higher risk for poorer outcomes than White women. To tackle the problem of maternal mortality, we need to address racial discrimination and structural racism. Poor maternal health outcomes expose inequalities in U.S. society that go beyond the health system. Improving those outcomes will require more equitable access to health care and the social determinants of health. To improve U.S. maternal health outcomes, we must prioritize Black women’s health and lives and commit to taking meaningful action. Every state at all levels of governance must take steps to ensure safe and respectful maternal care for all women. Our churches can work in our communities to help make this happen. (Thanks to the Center for Reproductive Rights for its assistance.)