Zahnell Pinnock has a BA in Multimedia Storytelling and is a recent graduate of Queen’s University Knight School of Communication in Charlotte.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2023, at least 21 states have banned or restricted access to abortion, including my home state of North Carolina.
As a young black woman of childbearing age, I find this both alarming and deeply personal. As of 2021, the maternal mortality rate for Black women in North Carolina was More than 2.5 times that of white women. Since the Republican-led General Assembly approved a 12-week abortion ban in July, motherhood has only gotten more dangerous for people like me.
According to reports, Republicans did not invite any black Democratic woman to contribute to the bill. NC Newsline, Sen. Candy Smith, who represents Pitt County, pointed out during an anti-abortion debate in May that black women have been fighting for their bodily freedom since slavery.
“We’re once again in a situation where someone is trying to tell us what to do with our bodies,” Smith said. “We’ve been fighting against that long enough. That’s no good.”
Yet Republicans elbowed out black state legislators who are 21% of North Carolina General Assembly. Such actions adds to a long list of racist patterns that Black women have faced when pursuing maternal health care.
Research revealed other obstacles in a 2021 study conducted by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina on maternal health care for women of color. Study participants reported feeling dismissed and undervalued in medical settings. Many said doctors and nurses seemed to be making assumptions rather than treating patients as individuals.
“These assumptions included the dangerous notion that being black means you are stronger and have a higher tolerance for pain,” the study said.
Advocates for better care also point out that Tomeka Isaac‘s son Jace died in utero at a Pineville hospital due to a rare but life-threatening pregnancy condition called HELLP syndrome. This severe form of pre-eclampsia also nearly killed Isaac. She explained: panel discussion Last year, I thought I might have been diagnosed earlier if my doctor had run blood and urine tests.
The abortion ban is certain to disproportionately impact black women, who already face implicit bias and unequal access to inadequate health care, housing, education, and jobs.
So why should we be surprised that black women are more likely to have an abortion? Many need this option to make up for everything society has denied them.
“What ultimately makes people want to terminate a pregnancy is Shaped by structural inequalities in access; Amanda Stevenson, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in an interview with CNN. “But it is shaped by experiences of racism.”
State Sen. Natalie Murdock (D-Durham) has teamed up with her female colleagues to introduce several bills to address the state’s maternal and child health crisis, particularly inequities in maternal and child health for Black people. Some of the important laws are MOM Nivas method. It mirrors U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood’s collection of federal bills of the same name.
If approved by the North Carolina General Assembly; The bill is a state-funded maternal mortality prevention grant program, establish implicit bias training for perinatal care physicians, define perinatal care as a human right, and diversify training programs for lactation consultants. , support available to parents.
“Senator Murdoch cannot speak for his Republican colleagues, but their actions this Congress on maternal health reflect their focus on restricting access to prenatal care and abortion. Murdoch’s legislative aide, Divine Arth Dowd, told me in an email.
According to North Carolina statistics, 70% of all pregnancy-related deaths are considered preventable. Most recent Maternal mortality investigation report. Ars Dowd said the collection of bills introduced by Murdoch and others would address some of the issues raised in the report.
“We know we need to understand how black women and women of color are treated in medical settings,” Murdoch said. told NC Health News.
Ars Dowd urged North Carolinians to contact their members of the General Assembly and explain why this important legislation is so needed.
You can go to Find a member of parliament” to identify representatives based on their address. There you’ll see your email address, phone number, and mailing address. You can also visit legislators’ offices when Congress is in session in Raleigh.
“While facts and statistics are important, personal anecdotes highlighting complications of pregnancy and childbirth and how the provisions within Omnibus can help address them are also gaining ground.” Dowd said. “It gives a face and a story to what we’re fighting for.”
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