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What is causing the Black maternal mortality epidemic, and what can be done to save Black lives? The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income nation in the world — and it is Black mothers who are dying at the highest rates. Black birthing people are three times more likely to die in childbirth, but about 84% of those deaths are preventable. For this episode of Meet the BIPOC Press with our partner URL Media, a network of Black and Brown owned and operated news outlets, Laura Flanders is joined again by co-host Sara Lomax of Philadelphia’s WURD Radio. They invite Marianne Fray, the CEO of Maternity Care Coalition and Kenya Hunter, the Atlanta Health Reporter for Capital B News, to discuss how Black women and birthing people are taking control of their pregnancies. Explore the community-centered responses that may lead to better pregnancy outcomes and a more equitable healthcare system.

“We all came into this world through some person and it is a miraculous thing. If we could spend a little time reflecting on that, and then set up ourselves or whomever chooses to have children with the best possible outcome.” - Marianne Fray

“There was a researcher from the University of Colorado, Boulder, who predicted a 21% jump in pregnancy-related deaths in the country if Roe v Wade was overturned. But that number then jumps to 33% when you're talking about Black women.” - Kenya Hunter

“. . . Birth was a business practice in many ways. Children were ripped from us. Black women were experimented on by the ‘father of gynecology,’ Marion Sims in the 1840s . . . I do think Black women are carrying a lot of historical trauma related to birthing and childbearing.”

Guests:

Marianne Fray: CEO, Maternity Care Coalition

Kenya Hunter: Atlanta Health Reporter, Capital B News

Sara Lomax: Co-Founder, URL Media; President & CEO, WURD Radio

Full Show Notes are located HERE. They include related episodes, articles, and more to dive deeper.

Music In the Middle: “Time Shlime” by Rithma courtesy of Om Records.

Laura Flanders and Friends Crew: Laura Flanders, along with Sabrina Artel, Jeremiah Cothren, Veronica Delgado, Janet Hernandez, Jeannie Hopper, Gina Kim, Sarah Miller, Nat Needham, David Neuman, and Rory O’Conner.

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