Why do Black mothers in America continue dying at alarming rates in a healthcare system equipped with cutting-edge technology and innovation? The latest CDC data on maternal mortality reveals a troubling pattern: while overall US maternal deaths decreased in 2023, Black mothers saw their death rates rise from 49.5 to 50.3 per 100,000 live births. This isn’t just a statistic — it represents mothers, daughters, and sisters whose lives were cut short giving birth in the US.
Beyond Access to Care
The issue goes beyond lack of access to care. It spans across all education levels and economic status. A 2023 Lancet study revealed that Black women face disproportionately higher death risks during and after childbirth, even with equal access to care. Consider tennis champion Serena Williams, who nearly died after giving birth when her concerns about blood clots were initially dismissed.
As I shared in my TEDx talk “Do No Harm,” even being a physician didn’t protect me from similar dismissal in the hospital where I practice. Despite repeatedly voicing that something was wrong and calling my doctor, I found myself as a physician fighting to be heard as my condition deteriorated. These aren’t isolated incidents — they represent a systemic problem. Professional status and healthcare access can’t protect Black women from the impact of systemic bias and racism.
Confronting Uncomfortable Truths About Bias
We have to look at the role of unconscious bias, which is the social stereotypes formed about how people can look, think, or behave. The reality is not every patient is evaluated equally when they seek care, and thoughts such as “are they really in that much pain?” “Are they being dramatic?” “Are they drug seekers?” are uncomfortable realities that clinicians need to acknowledge and address. A study published in 2016 in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science showed that 40 percent of first- and second-year medical students had the false belief that “Black people’s skin is thicker than white people’s.” The study also found that trainees believed Black people are not as sensitive to pain as white people, and were less likely to treat Black people’s pain appropriately.
What Do We Need to Do?
To meaningfully reduce Black maternal deaths, we need to acknowledge that representation improves health outcomes, as studies have shown. In the US, Black physicians comprise less than 6 percent of US doctors despite Black Americans making up over 14 percent of the population. This representation gap matters.
We also need to invest in bias training and amplify Black women’s birth stories. These narratives highlight the challenges we face in American healthcare and the need for systemic change. The solution isn’t simply advancing technology or opening more clinics and hospital doors — it’s transforming what happens once we walk through them. Until we acknowledge that bias, not biology, drives these disparities, Black mothers will continue facing disproportionate risks in a healthcare system that should protect all lives equally.
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