Birth to Death Birth Pregnancy

Black women in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy or delivery than any other race. Some doctors don't take their concerns seriously. Black babies are more likely to die, and also far more likely to be born prematurely. That can set the stage for health issues that can follow people through their lives. Historians trace the problems to racist medical practices amid and after slavery. Physicians performed torturous surgical experiments on enslaved Black women without anesthesia. And well after the abolition of slavery, hospitals performed unnecessary hysterectomies on Black women, and eugenics programs sterilized them. Health care segregation also played a major role.