The Black Maternal Health Crisis Is Getting Worse. One Expert Details the Resources Available To Help Solve It.

An official with one of the nation’s largest Black maternal health organizations explains the need for greater education and advocacy.

In the U.S., Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. April is recognized as National Minority Health Month, a national initiative to advance health equity for racial and ethnic minorities. Within the month, Black Maternal Health Week, observed April 11-17, was created by Black Mamas Matter Alliance nearly eight years ago to raise awareness about racial disparities in maternal health. 

As public health agencies face potential Medicaid cuts and slashes to equity-focused initiatives, organizations like Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the Black Women’s Health Imperative are navigating growing challenges around funding, resources and an urgent need for more advocacy.

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In Indiana, Black women have the highest rates of maternal mortality in the state. As maternal health resources continue to erode, these disparities risk deepening. In response, Capital B Gary has hosted “Black Mamas Matter” events to share resources, encourage dialogue, and identify local solutions.

Capital B Gary health reporter and Pulitzer Center fellow Jenae Barnes spoke with Isabel Morgan, senior advisor for maternal health at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the oldest national nonprofit dedicated solely to the wellness of Black women and girls.

Morgan, a trained epidemiologist and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contractor, emphasized the need for better data, stronger community infrastructure, and legislative advocacy. She also highlighted the crucial role of doulas and community-based care in improving outcomes.

Morgan called this year’s Black Maternal Health Week theme, “Healing Legacies: Strengthening Black Maternal Health Through Collective Action and Advocacy,” a “guiding light” for supporting further training, ensuring resources are shared, and amplifying the needs of the Black community.  

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

Why is it important to recognize Black Maternal Health Week? 

So, this issue is incredibly important because it significantly impacts everything related to our lives. It has implications for our children’s and our families’ health and well-being. We know from data from the CDC that Black women are three to 3.5 times more likely to experience pregnancy-related deaths as compared to white women. [Among industrialized nations] the U.S. also has the highest maternal mortality rate, which tracks deaths up to 42 days postpartum.

That is why Black Maternal Health Week is important to not only raise awareness about the Black maternal health crisis, but also the racial and geographic inequities we’re experiencing within the U.S.

We’re elevating not only the crisis, but also what people are doing to address the crisis and what is needed. So, what policies are needed? What legislative advocacy is needed to get us to the place where we no longer lose anyone? We don’t want to lose Black mamas surrounding pregnancy, particularly because we know that most of these deaths are preventable.  

These issues, unfortunately, affect Black families nationwide. What’s some advice for smaller Black cities, like Gary, which has only one hospital, who might not have as many resources and access? 

I think being in a community is incredibly important and being able to corral resources. For example, if there’s funding being cut from maternal and child health programs — which we know is happening — we should think about appealing to other programs that may not be experiencing the same immediate cuts. That’s something that we have to do when we leverage reproductive justice as our guiding framework. It pushes us to think more broadly and creatively about who our partners can be, how to appeal to them, and how to advocate. I think people have to be very strategic about how they are collaborating and finding uncommon partners. And realistically, that means appealing to private foundations. 

What are the most common obstacles you see now in the public health space, and how can we navigate them? 

I think most immediately, it’s emotional chaos. It’s an intentional deconstructing of our public health infrastructure. That is real, and it causes chaos, it causes fear, it causes tension. They want us to feel the chaos so that we are not able to mobilize. 

Also, taking a step back to breathe and to remember that we have to be as level-headed as possible to mobilize. So, the significant impact that we’re experiencing most immediately is the lack of access to data. When you fire essentially … most of the staff in the Division of Reproductive Health at [the] CDC … we no longer are able to generate data at the national level as to how people are experiencing pregnancy and postpartum. 

What are some resources, and how can we make people more aware of them? 

Black Mamas Matter Alliance has collaborators like myself as an individual. They also have a list on their website who those partners are, who those collaborators are. It even has a map so you can see where these organizations are located. You can see if an organization is located within your state or within your city to get connected to them. These are local, community-based organizations providing direct services. So I would say BMMA and their partners are certainly a resource.

The “IRTH App” spelled as birth without the “b” for bias — that’s how Kimberly Seals Allers talks about this. She developed the IRTH app to be able to allow pregnant people and their families to identify what experiences other Black mamas have had at specific health care centers. She calls it like the Yelp of hospitals.

There’s also the Birth Bill of Rights, a document that pregnant people can use when they are in the hospital or at a birth center. You can use this document as these are your rights when you’re in that space, and so if you feel like you’re being mistreated, if you feel like you’re being discriminated against, it outlines what people basically should expect when they are within a birthing facility.

There are warning signs that CDC has developed in collaboration with community-based organizations. So, people know if they’re experiencing certain symptoms, they need to contact their health care provider. We call those maternal health warning signs. We know that cardiovascular conditions and hypertensive disorders are the leading causes of death for pregnancy and pregnancy-related deaths for Black women and Black people. 

There’s also a movement to shift to make sure that partners also are equipped with this knowledge. 4Kira4Moms recently launched 4Kira4Dads. The organization is meant to make sure that partners are able to have access to specific resources to support them through their journeys. So the warning signs will be shared and available for partners of people, and it is framed for dads.