Alyssah HallThank you for reading this post, don’t forget to subscribe!
The recent passing of Dr. Janell Green Smith, a 31-year-old South Carolina-based certified nurse midwife and scholar, who died as a result of complications related to childbirth, continues to fuel the need for equity in maternal health, according to members of the California Coalition for Black Birth Justice (The Coalition).
“Her passing, along with so many other Black mothers, continues to be the driving force behind our work and the broader movement for birth equity and injustice for Black women in particular,” Co-founder and Executive Director Dana Sherrod said during a recent webinar.
The Coalition released the 2026 State of Black Birth Equity in California Report in January and identified several issues regarding Black birth. Several chapters of the report examine key gaps in the literature around Black birthing, key infrastructure/policy findings, and clinician focus group findings.
Webinar attendees were composed of multiple professionals in the various fields of maternal health who were encouraged to be active in the chat. The attendees shared their ideas on what they’d like to see change and improve in the Black maternal health landscape such as: developing policy centered around consequences for providers and hospitals who uphold medical neglect as well as an increased focus on maternity care deserts in California.
Some of the key findings in the first chapter of the report focuses on the research that revealed a trend of racism being a root cause in the lack of equity in the Black birthing landscape. The chapter also highlighted a gap in research representation of individuals expecting homelessness, those with substance use disorders, transgender and gender expansive identities, and those with disabilities and incarcerated/justice involved individuals. The report addressed missing studies such as the exploration of infertility and the disaggregation of “Black” identity, as well as chronicling midwifery and doula integration in existing institutions, among many other findings.
“We have made a lot of success in the state of California in some regards, and not quite as much in others. One of the first things that was evident to us in examining the legislation is that birth equity in particular has emerged as an area of focus, particularly in recent legislative cycles,” Sherrod said. In California, several bills have been passed to improve maternal health access such as the California Momnibus Act (SB 65) and AB 904 which allows doula services under Medi-Cal.
Sherrod noted that while California has made strides, there is still a need for a comprehensive workforce and pipeline strategy for recruiting, retaining and resourcing a culturally competent and community-based workforce.“Particularly as of now, we see a lot of this unfold as it relates to doulas, but we have to expand that conversation. It has to include midwives, lactation consultants, mental health professionals, researchers, advocates and so many more. We also found that there is a need for a more systemic approach, to integrate mental health into perinatal care,” Sherrod continued.In the clinician focus group findings in chapter four of the report, the Coalition found that things like workforce diversity, external help and access to reliable data disaggregated by race and ethnicity were seen as facilitators to a successful implementation of a perinatal quality improvement project. However, challenges to such implementation included burnout from staff, fear of poor outcomes with patients, and lack of staff who believe in racism-based disparities.
“Something that was surprising to me as I spoke to folks [is] that not only is there fear on the end of the birthing [process for the] person who comes into a system and is unsure of the treatment that they’ll receive; but, there’s also fear on the provider side as well, and that confluence of fear often probably exacerbates the types of outcomes that we’re seeing for Black families,” shared Candice Charles, research and evaluation manager of the Coalition.
Charles expressed the importance of not only inpatient hospital births, but outpatient clinic setting happenings as well. According to findings from the LA-based clinic research, many Black mothers reported experiences around fear and coercion where they were afraid of what might happen to them or their baby. Some were coerced into accepting treatment or making treatment related decisions that they didn’t want to or felt weren’t medically needed.
“They talked about a desire for racially concordant care, [and a] desire to receive better bedside manner from staff who had higher levels of competency. They also talked about having a lack of options when it came to the type of care that they were receiving, and some frustration around that,” Charles said.
The coalition is working on the California Birth Equity Connect, which is a web platform in the midst of beta testing. The platform will have a list of all the organizations that The Coalition was able to collect and make it so they can be categorized by a number of different filters. Such filters may include geography, strategic approach, year, and whether they are Black lead/founded, etc. Once the testing is finished this platform will be available for people to use in their work or day to day.
The California Coalition for Black Birth Justice was established in 2022, by Black women leaders from birth equity measures across California with the mission to unite and bolster the Black birth justice movement throughout the state. The webinar was hosted by Co-Founder & Executive Director of The Coalition, Dana Sherrod, and Research & Evaluation Manager of The Coalition, Candice Charles.
Source: Black Voice News
