Happy Black Maternal Health Week!

Happy Black Maternal Health Week!

I hope you will take a moment to think about why Black Maternal Health Week might mean something for you. Especially if you are not a black mother, and don’t have a black mother, or a black child.

Black Maternal Health is an issue for many reasons, the biggest being that:

Black women are human. This might sound silly to you, but in the fabric of our laws, our constitution, and the systems that run this country, black women have not always been considered a full human and are to this day treated differently than white women. Not only in medical settings, but especially in medical settings.

If you ever have the opportunity to talk to a black woman about her birth. I’d be willing to bet money that the things she heard, endured, and experienced would shock you… unless you are a black woman yourself, in which case, you might be enraged and hurt, but not surprised. (And unless she was supported by a black midwife or doula… Black Midwives and Doulas are doing huge things to change this situation! SO much love to all of you! We need more Black Birthworkers!)

Black women are three to six times more likely to die from complications surrounding pregnancy and childbirth than white women. Death rates for infants born to Black Americans with advanced degrees are higher than white Americans who didn't go to high school. It's not an education issue or a money issue, its a race issue. The stress of being black in America affects the health of black mothers and babies!

If your loved one was SIX times more likely to die than say… me… would you care? Ummm.. yes, of course you would care. You don't want your loved ones to die. And this is why we need to care about Black Maternal Health.

We owe everything we know about natural birth in this country to Black Women.

“If you are afraid of natural birth, at least some of this was taught to you by powerful white men who want your money. As mentioned, in early 20th century America, almost everyone was born at home. Many white midwives had been killed and the rest pushed underground, but someone still had to catch the babies, so most of the midwives who were attending births were either indigenous midwives who were here when the colonizers arrived or they were grand midwives, black slaves who had retained the wisdom from their native lands or had it passed down to them from their predecessors, other slave women. We owe everything we still know about natural birth to these women!”
- Wisdom From the Womb, Geneva Montano

If Any Life Matters, then Black Lives Matter, so Black Mothers Matter.

Healthy moms make healthy babies. Healthy moms make healthy families. Healthy moms make healthy communities. Healthy moms make a healthy world.

The entire world is based on the health of the mother. Without healthy black mothers, we can never have a healthy world.

If you believe in a healthy world- please consider donating time or money to an organization that cares for black mothers.

Here are a few to consider:

www.wombcycle.org (this is a local Colorado Midwife!)
www.blackmamasmatteralliance.org
www.sistamidwife.com

Thank you for supporting Black Maternal Health, as though your own baby’s life depended on it!