Black Maternal Health Month: "This administration does not care about Black women and girls ..."

Pregnancy and delivery in the United States are fraught with danger.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris had a blueprint for addressing America’s maternal mortality and morbidity crisis. President Donald Trump does not.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, “The (U.S.) continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation … (and) by far the highest for Black women. Most of these deaths — over 80 percent — are likely preventable.”

The Trump Executive Order (EO) entitled, “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,” calls for an end to federal funding for elective abortions and rolls back Biden administration policies that expanded access to reproductive healthcare, including contraception and emergency abortion care.

In the wake of this regressive EO, a 20-year-old college student in Idaho, a single or married woman in Texas, or a teenage girl in Pennsylvania face unwanted, life-altering, possibly life-threatening, pregnancies, mental and emotional distress, and an increased risk for poverty because the government gets to decide what’s best for their bodies.

States abortion bans or gestational limits, federal cuts for reproductive health services, slashes to Medicaid funding, and the prosecution of women seeking contraceptives or abortion services render women powerlessness over their reproductive choices.

Ten of the 21 states with abortion bans or gestational limits do not have an exception for pregnancies resulting from sexual assault.

Trump also halted the enforcement of anti-discrimination law in cases where women report denial of emergency abortion care or prescription medication. In other words, “don’t complain” about the health care you receive (or lack thereof). The federal government will not address your grievances or mistreatment.

Restrictive laws and EOs curbing access to abortion and contraception increase the likelihood that women, particularly Black or low-income women, will resort to abortions at the hands of unqualified, unlicensed providers.

In addition, National Women’s Law Center reported that the Trump administration will “Block data collection, research, and analysis in measuring the effect of access to reproductive health care on maternal health outcomes and other health outcomes.”

Translation: The government won’t identify shifts in rates of maternal mortality, whether good or bad. The government won’t monitor the quality of obstetrical care that American women receive. The government won’t hold medical practitioners accountable for inadequate care or discriminatory practices.

In January, Richard E. Besser, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) stated, “Everyone wants healthcare rooted in compassion and respect … greater diversity … improves health outcomes for (groups) underrepresented in the healthcare field … The evidence is clear: a diverse healthcare workforce and inclusive policies serve us all. These executive orders serve no one."

Another less talked about cultural phenomenon is the growth of the conservative pronatalist movement. In March, Population Connection stated “(it) is a growing movement, which … maintains that efforts to decrease gender inequality have gone too far and that women should return to traditional domestic roles and raise many children.”

Who will protect Black women?

Dr. Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Agenda, stated, “It is not an overstatement to say that this administration’s attacks on our bodily autonomy are a matter of life or death … attempts to block pregnant people from accessing critical medical services proves that this administration does not care about the lives of Black women, girls and gender-expansive people.”

Hence, some reproductive justice organizations are stepping in to provide resources, education, and support for Black women.

The Black Mamas Matter Alliance is working to reduce Black maternal mortality and morbidity. Its theme for Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17) is “Healing Legacies: Strengthening Black Maternal Health Through Collective Action and Advocacy.”
The Black Women’s Health Imperative partners with the WNBA and Opill for the “Level the Court” initiative, which provides a three-months supply of Opill,* an over-the-counter contraceptive, for Black women who face temporary challenges that impact their access to reproductive health options, such as “financial hardship or disruption due to life events that prevent them from investing in their healthcare.”

The Birth Justice Care Fund is a SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective initiative that covers costs of prenatal, labor, and postpartum support, and other essential items, such as diapers, wipes, car seats, strollers, and breast pumps for women in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Florida.

The Southern Black Justice Network provides mobile midwifery services in the Miami-Dade County area. Patients can visit with a licensed community midwife for prenatal checkups, referrals, and support with other pregnancy services. Volunteers also distribute diapers, menstrual and postpartum supplies.

In the words of Dorothy E. Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body: Race Reproduction and the Meaning of Liberty, “No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her own body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.”

Wista JohnsonApril 4, 2025