Funders for Birth Justice and Equity
Coming together to fund a transformed and just maternity care system
Birth is a reproductive
justice issue.
The U.S. healthcare system struggles to deliver respectful reproductive care to all birthing people, resulting in serious consequences in maternal and infant health outcomes, especially for BIPOC birthing people. Structural and institutional racism is the root cause of disparities in outcomes and experience in birth. Birth is a reproductive justice issue.
The numbers speak for themselves.
African Americans have HIGHER RATES OF C-SECTION and are MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY to be readmitted to the hospital in the month following the surgery.
FEWER THAN 20 STATES that have panels STUDYING MOTHERS’ DEATHS identify medical care flaws such as delayed diagnosis, inadequate treatments or the failures of hospitals to follow basic safety measures.
“We worry a lot about vulnerable little babies. We don’t pay enough attention to those things that can be catastrophic for women.”
Barbara Levy
Vice President for health policy/advocacy at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and a member of the Council on Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care
“It’s important that we treat providers fairly, but it’s also important we hold them accountable. The act of collecting and reporting — especially public reporting — of results can make a difference in accountability and quality of care.”
Carol Sakala
Leader of maternity care programs for the National Partnership for Women and Families
BLACK WOMEN are 49 percent more likely than white women to deliver prematurely. Closely related, BLACK INFANTS are twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday.
See more statistics HERE.
We’re fighting to give all women better birth outcomes.
We are using our collective funding to go beyond programmatic changes. We are aiming to transform systems, dismantle racism in the maternity care system, and advance reproductive justice. We do this by influencing change in hospital policies around maternal health care, and increasing the accessibility of provably safe and effective alternate birth plans.
It’s time for you
to get involved.
We are doing all we can to transform the maternal care system in the United States, but we can’t do it alone. We need funding to contract the money and time-saving measures put in by hospitals that put birthing people at risk. We also need funding to create midwife-run birthing facilities across the country. By helping us change birthing practices in the United States, you can help save thousands of lives.
Events
Learn more about our recent and upcoming events.
Resources
Browse relevant resources on the topic of birth justice and equity.
Blog
Read our blog here.