Abortion access: Black women more likely to die in pregnancy complications, lack proper pre-natal care
Black women are more likely to have abortions than white women, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Posted — UpdatedExperts also say Black women are also more likely than white or Hispanic women to die from pregnancy complications — almost 67% of which are preventable.
Why?
Experts say it's largely due to health disparities and lack of equal access to care.
As a result, they say Black women will be disproportionately hurt by abortion restrictions in North Carolina.
Experts say 92% of counties in NC don’t have an abortion provider or clinic, and expert to see people most impacted in those areas.
So a team of local midwives are stepping up to help close the gap. Two midwives, along with another professor at UNC, have recently started a doula program to help make pregnancies safer for Black women by providing emotional and physical support.
Maya Hart, the North Carolina representative for Sister Song, a reproductive justice rights group, says access is already difficult for Black women – and it could get even harder.
"We have to consider cost of procedure, harder to access for those with lower income black people people of color, as well as how will they pay for childcare," she says.
Black women make up 23% of the state's population, but about 49% of women who had an abortions in North Carolina in 2020 were Black.
Experts say Black women seek abortions at higher rates, partly because of lower contraceptive access and partly because their pregnancies are more likely to have more dangerous complications.
"More Black women are dying within first year of delivering baby than white or Hispanic," says Stephanie Devonae Johnson, a nurse and midwife with Vanderbilt University.
Statistics also show that Black women have high rates of pre-term births and low birth weights for their babies.
Dr. Jacqui McMillian Bohler with Duke is also a nurse and midwife. She believes pregnant Black women are often afraid to speak up about pregnancy side effects or pains.
"Black women are not listened to to the same extent other races are," she says. "We have studies that show labor support makes a difference in outcomes."
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