This week marks Black Maternal Health Week 2025 (BMHW25), held annually from April 11–17. Launched by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance in 2018, BMHW uplifts the voices of Black Mamas and Black Birthing People. This year’s theme, “Healing Legacies: Strengthening Black Maternal Health Through Collective Action and Advocacy,” highlights the importance of centering the stories and experiences of Black birthing folks to disrupt medical bias and violence in order to foster safer and more joyous birthing experiences, individually and collectively. Part of National Minority Health Month and aligned with the International Day for Maternal Health and Rights, BMHW25 calls for community mobilization and honors the deep legacy of reproductive justice within Black communities.
ACKNOWLEDGING OUR REALITY
In the United States, Black women and Black birthing people are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts—despite over 80% of these deaths being preventable. According to the CDC, “multiple factors contribute to these disparities, such as variation in quality healthcare and underlying chronic conditions. Social determinants of health prevent many people from racial and ethnic minority groups from having fair opportunities for economic, physical, and emotional health.”
This is why access to safe, affirming healthcare providers; culturally responsive sex education; and medical infrastructures that truly care and listen to Black patients’ pain and experiences is so critical. When people are ignored, outcomes worsen. Care must be rooted in compassion, safety, equity, and trust.
From Granny Midwives to Medical Institutions
Long before birth was institutionalized, Black midwives—often called “granny midwives”—helped generations of Black families deliver safely, offering expert care rooted in tradition, trust, and community. These midwives played a vital role in protecting birthing people’s health and dignity, showing up at homes with skill, knowledge, and deep cultural understanding. But this legacy was disrupted when white male physicians began asserting medical authority over childbirth, pushing for births to take place in hospitals under their control. This shift not only medicalized the birthing process but also actively discredited and marginalized the midwifery traditions that had long sustained Black communities.
Historically, the medical industry has perpetuated dangerous myths about Black people and pain. Once birth moved into institutional settings, Black birthing people were met with systemic bias and harmful stereotypes that continue to shape medical care today. Providers often failed—and still fail—to listen to their concerns or take their symptoms seriously. A particularly dangerous myth, rooted in racism, is the false belief that Black people feel less pain than white people. This pseudoscience has historically been used to justify everything from unethical medical experiments to withholding anesthesia. And while we now know these ideas are entirely false, they remain embedded in practice, leading to Black patients being more likely to have their pain dismissed, undertreated, or ignored altogether.
BLACK MATERNAL MORTALITY DOESN’T DISCRIMINATE
It’s important to understand that these disparities affect Black birthing people across all social markers—regardless of wealth, fame, education, or language proficiency. Celebrities like Serena Williams, Beyoncé, and Kenya Moore have publicly shared their life-threatening birthing experiences, despite having access to top-tier medical care, resources, and money. The common thread in their stories was that their pain was ignored. Their concerns were dismissed. Their care was delayed. And those failures led to unnecessary and dangerous complications. And as this happens with public figures who have great access, we must also keep in mind how these situations impact those with less and/or different privilege.
The Black maternal health crisis is about how care is delivered and who is believed. Listening to Black women and Black birthing people isn’t optional—it’s necessary and often, life saving. Especially when it comes to their own bodies and health.
we need to include young people in the conversation
Black maternal health isn’t an adult issue—it’s one that also impacts young people in real, tangible ways. Some young people are already parenting. Others may become birthing people in the future, or support someone who is. Many have been affected by the loss of a parent, sibling, or loved one due to pregnancy-related complications. These losses ripple through families, schools, and communities, often with lasting emotional and economic effects. When talking about maternal health, we have to acknowledge that young people are part of that story.
That’s why we must include Black maternal health in sex education and youth-focused health conversations. These topics are interconnected—understanding reproductive justice, access to care, and how systemic racism shapes health outcomes prepares young people to make informed choices and advocate for themselves and others.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Believe and listen to Black Mamas and birthing people.
Demand access to quality, unbiased health care and education.
Invest in doulas and midwives (including someone with accessing/affording a doula midwife).
Support Black-led maternal health organizations doing this work (Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Sister Song, Soul 2 Soul Sisters).
Talk to young people. Many are impacted and we need all perspectives.
Expand sex and pregnancy education to reflect real, lived experiences. Allow room for questions and dialogue.
Call for anti-racist medical training that prepares providers to offer equitable, respectful care.
Center Black birthing people in policy, research, and care models.
Healing legacies means addressing the long-standing harms of systemic racism and medical neglect—and replacing them with varying forms of collective care rooted in compassion, safety, and advocacy. In and out of institutionalized birthing spaces. Black birthing people deserve beautiful, safe, and affirming birthing experiences every time.
