Moorings 2020

Black Motherhood: Why are the Black Babies Dying?

Elizabeth O’Hare For many women, pregnancy is an exciting time for awaiting and preparing for their child. But, for black mothers, this time of excitement may be filled with great fear because of the risk and uncertainty of pregnancy. Black women may be four times more likely than white women to die from complications in pregnancy and their infants are two-and-a-half times as likely as white infants to die before one year of life (Strait 39-53). Complex socioeconomic factors most certainly play a role in the significant health inequalities between white and black mothers and their children, but these factors alone provide an incomplete picture of this disparity.

Authors have proposed the theory of “weathering� to describe the premature aging of black women that contributes to disparities in maternal and infant health among races.

Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to suffer and even die from multiple health complications, such as heart attack and diabetes and are increasingly suffering from chronic illness (Division of Reproductive Health). Simons, et al describe that past studies attribute the black-white health disparity to socioeconomic factors, proposing to resolve this inequality by addressing the causes of poverty through humanitarian efforts and education. But Simons, et al propose that although these efforts work in white communities, they have been unsuccessful for improving black health. It is not only impoverished black Americans who are affected, but even those in the middle and upper classes, indicating that the issue is not rooted in economic standing alone and cannot be eradicated only through increased resources, although these are necessary. The answer to this inequality can be isolated by looking specifically at prenatal care and infant health for black Americans. As John Strait describes, infant mortality is often used to compare health between demographics because it is indicative of social progress, Moorings 48