A midwife measures fundal height at Abide Women’s Health Services Easy Access Clinic in Dallas. / M311Y Photography
Black and Brown Birthing Folk Matter
Black and Brown Birthing Folk Matter
They are deserving of excellent care that centers them and honors their lived experiences.
THE LORD PLANTED a seed in my heart in 2013, when I was holding my baby girl at a conference and learned about the disparities and health outcomes for Black and brown women. I started Abide, a maternal justice organization [in Texas], to improve birth outcomes in communities with the lowest quality of care by offering services that are easily accessible, evidence-based, holistic, and free from judgment. I strongly believe this urge in my spirit is God-led. And God is saying that Black and brown birthing folk matter and are deserving of excellent care that centers them and honors their lived experiences.
Black women are dying from preventable causes, one being explicit biases in health care. It doesn’t matter what race, what background you come from. If you’re human, you have biases. Our receptionist is the first step in addressing biases. In a lot of other places, often [Black women] are judged based upon so many factors: It could be your name, it could be how you sound, it can be based on what type of health insurance you have or don’t have. We address those biases from the jump.
At Abide, it feels like you’re going into your auntie’s living room. Right there, the stress, the defensiveness, the anxiety, all of that is lowered. We offer prenatal and postnatal care, child birth education, lactation and parenting support, but our environment doesn’t feel like a clinic.
For a country that boasts about providing “the American dream,” we’re not providing an opportunity for families to take the time off that is needed to tenderly care for their child at the beginning of life. I learned that puppies should be with their mamas for at least 10 weeks. Veterinarians are seeing how important it is for animals to be with their mothers, I’m like, what are we doing?
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