Why is Motherhood So Unsafe for Women of Color?

Black Women's Health Project: Why is Motherhood So Unsafe for Women of Color?
Contact: Ainslie Harkness of the National Black Women's Health
Project, 202-543-9311

WASHINGTON, June 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- American research priorities must change to address the startling fact that motherhood is four times more dangerous for Black women than for White women in America, National Black Women's Health Project President Julia R. Scott said today.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., issued findings in its June 18, 1999, "Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report," that indicate the rate of pregnancy-related deaths for Black U.S. women is 19.6 per 100,000 live births, nearly four times as high as the rate of 5.3 per 100,000 for White women. "The death rate for Black mothers is a national scandal that should outrage every American," Scott said.

The overall rate of maternal deaths, 7.7 per 100,000 live births, has not changed much in the past decade and the gap between Black and White women has remained more or less constant. Serious non-fatal complications related to childbirth also afflict Black women at a rate much higher than White women.

"There should be four times as much research on causes of death among Black mothers giving birth as is being done on maternal death in the general population," Scott said. "Pregnancy can be a very serious issue for Black women. We need to do something about it."

Scott noted that the CDC's state-by-state breakdown reveals additional race disparities. The worst state for Black women (New York, at 28.7 deaths per 100,000 live births) was 10 times worse than the best state for White women (Massachusetts, at 2.7 per 100,000).

Scott said, "The National Black Women's Health Project -- the only private, nonprofit organization dedicated solely to improving the health and well-being of America's 17.8 million Black women -- will spearhead an effort to reduce the number of pregnancy-related deaths and complications among Black women."

The safe motherhood initiative, a program titled "Mothers Too Early, Too Long," will seek to reframe women's health research agendas to include ending the racial disparities disclosed in the CDC report, she said. Scott condemned the persistently high overall U.S. maternal death rate as "shocking" for the world's richest nation, noting that 20 countries have lower rates. She called for "a new research model that examines the 'why' of these population patterns in addition to the 'how' of disease prevention." Health has structural determinants including income levels, class, gender and race, she said, and these factors should be the new focus of health research, along with better ways to prevent maternal mortality and suffering.

"It's imperative if we have a sense of decency, fairness and equality in our country, that we spend our research dollars where the need is greatest -- in the prevention of needless deaths of all women in childbirth, especially those of Black women, the ones who suffer most," Scott said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention article, "State-Specific Maternal Mortality Among Black and White Women, can be found on the CDC Web site at http://www2.cdc.gov/mmwr/.

Additional people to contact for comments on the CDC data include:

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Women's Caucus at 202-225-1605.

Andrea Camp of the Institute for Civil Society at 410-719-2309.

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/U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770