Black Maternal Health Crisis, COVID-19, and the Crisis of Care

Abstract

[...]we will suggest immediate and long-term solutions promulgated by reproductive justice advocates and activists in the Movement for Black Lives and SisterSong Women of Color ductive Collective, who use a feminist lens to address the black maternal health crisis. Black mothers experience high rates of separation from their infants after birth and do not receive consistent breastfeeding education nor consistent evaluations of health concerns through high blood pressure checks and cervical checks;they also experience more complications after receiving medical interventions such as epidurals, pitocin, and caesareans, as we saw in the case of Amber Isaac.9 Using a critical, intersectional lens to view the COVID-19 pandemic illuminates how Black birthing parents are mistreated and receive inadequate care, which may result in a higher number of deaths.10 The same conditions that structure inequalities for Black mothers and Black birthing parents in the healthcare system are only exacerbated for surrogates, Black queer and trans birthing parents, and undocumented mothers.11 These conditions impact the child s relationship with the parents since what was considered an intimate, socially bonding experience through skin-to-skin contact is now denied. Black babies are commonly born underweight, and in some states, infants born to African American mothers die at twice the rate as infants born to non-Hispanic white mother regardless of education level and socioeconomic status.19 It takes a birthing parent between six and eight weeks to recover from childbirth, and in some instances, up to two years post-birth if there are complications that require extended physical and emotional recovery.20 Without critical attention to how essential Black workers and parents are affected by this ongoing crisis of care, the vulnerable will continue to face higher rates of death, especially during this pandemic. Grassroots activists have documented how neighborhoods without well-funded community healthcare centers, birthing centers, and medical professionals and supplies simultaneously face culturally incompetent medical professionals in hospitals, which are most often located outside their communities.23 Many recent studies have found that health disparities and provider attitudes are deeply connected.24 Furthermore, scholars have found that healthcare professionals consider Black Americans to be less cooperative, less compliant, and less responsible in medical spaces.25 Since COVID-19, medical professionals have experienced increased pressure to address the demand for testing, prevention, and education on respiratory conditions as well as to provide care under stressful circumstances and rising numbers of cases.