Share Your Black Maternal Health Story
“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.”
— Audre Lorde, The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action
Audre Lorde affirms her truth as she opens what would become one of her most powerful works.
In my welcome post, I delved into why I started writing in support of black maternal health. When 2018 was thick with tragic stories that laid out the inequity that exists in our maternal outcomes, I was still on a high from my son’s homebirth.
I had experienced the difference between a hospital and home birth. I knew that the standard obstetric approach could learn a lot from the midwifery model of care. I believed with all of my being that every woman deserves to have a safe, fulfilling experience where she is centered, when (and if) she chooses to give birth. But all of that transformative energy wasn’t reflected in our grim statistics. I made it through while others lost their lives.
What I felt was something different than survivor’s guilt. I saw a black woman who hadn’t suffered enough to share her story.
Danielle Jackson who wrote A Frustrating Year of Reporting on Black Maternal Health notes the coverage of tragic stories that often lacked mention of the birth workers and black-women led organizations working to protect our birth outcomes. The Longreads article echoes the “count your blessings” mindset that I felt. “Those of us who do survive often leave the hospital traumatized and disempowered, but still feel ‘lucky to be alive,’ so we remain silent,” Jackson writes.
I am still unraveling why I felt safe behind my silence. And most importantly, who was it serving? Because honestly, what good is it when black women are so scared of birth that they enter into pregnancy with even more stress than our lived experience heaps on us? Who is our story serving when its quietly tucked away, unable to inspire and encourage women that need to see themselves reflected in successful birth? Who will join the voices that elevate the fight against the systemic barriers undermining our births?
All of our stories are like wells, providing growth for ourselves, our diverse narrative, and our maternal health advocacy. And whether its centered around the data, the community-based solutions, or the beautiful, triumphant births we are having, all of our stories are worthy of sharing.
