When Maternity Turns Into Fatalities for Black Moms, Babies

Black women in the United States are up to four times more likely to die during pregnancy than their white counterparts.

Pregnancy isn’t easy.

For Black people, it’s dangerous.

The Charlotte Post is launching a series examining the difficulty Black women face in maternity: They are up to four times more likely to die during pregnancy than their white peers. The series "Perils of Pregnancy,” produced with support from the Pulitzer Center, will give voice to women who’ve lived through near-death maternal experiences as well as advocates, such as doulas, whose work can help reduce the stubbornly high mortality gap.

The Post will also dig into the history of cultural incompetency and racially motivated exploitation by the medical community that has resulted in generations of pain and suffering for Black people that continue.

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Statistics paint a troubling picture. From 2016 to 2020, the maternal death rate for Black women in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, was five times higher than for white women, according to the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics.

In addition, the premature birth rate for Black women in North Carolina was 52% higher than among all other women.

From 2017 to 2021, most of the infant deaths in North Carolina occurred in Charlotte and the surrounding area, according to the state health department. During the four-year period, there were 386 infant deaths in Mecklenburg County, with Black babies accounting for 208 deaths, compared to 83 white babies.

“The research that’s out there shows that it's a systemic racism problem,” Mecklenburg Health Director Raynard Washington told The Post last year. “That’s what we really need to get to. Doulas are providing some support, but they are not answering the question of systemic racism. We do still need to make sure that we continue to address that as we work through this.”

Geography and access to maternal and prenatal care also play a role. More than 2 million North Carolina women live in maternity care deserts, where there is little to no access to a hospital or a health provider. Among the state’s 100 counties, 21, or little more than one in five, are defined as maternity care deserts, compared to 36% in the U.S., according to the nonprofit March of Dimes, which advocates for healthy babies. The average North Carolina woman lives about 11 miles from a hospital or birthing facility.

“In North Carolina, we have 40 counties that meet the criteria of low access or no access to care,” Michaela Penix, director of maternal and infant health in North Carolina, told The Post. “In our latest iteration of the report, we know that in some counties, folks have to drive almost an hour to the place where they’re going to give birth.”

There’s much to unpack as to why such gaps exist and why Black women and their babies pay a higher and disproportionate cost. This series, though, will bring more light to the issue, and hopefully engage discussion and action.