Take Action
- Learn more about how racism and bias harm Black mothers, babies and families.
- Share this campaign with your constituents.
- Organize listening sessions on birth justice with community partners and Black mothers and families.
- Eliminate social and environmental risk factors, including by investing in:
- Economic access for Black mothers with county-wide and state-wide income supplement and cash programs.
- Access to safe, quality housing, nutritious food, reliable and safe public transportation.
- Fund, sustain and maximize resources for community-based organizations dedicated to improving Black maternal health outcomes, especially during COVID.
- Expand health protections, including health care for all, and sick leave and family leave protections.
- Expand access to competent care:
- Doula care and community-based midwife programs across the Bay Area and state.
- Access to telehealth services, particularly during COVID.
- A community health system that works for all, especially Black families.
- Continuity of health insurance coverage for moms from the start of their pregnancies through the entire year-long postpartum period.
- Grow and diversify the maternity care workforce.
- Eliminate bias and racism in health care:
- Create a statewide policy to train and enforce policies in health care settings.
- Create a public, statewide database of maternal and infant health data from hospitals.
- Enforce robust policies to evaluate and effectively address potential inequities and racial biases in administering Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screenings.
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Black Maternal Health Momnibus
– The Black Maternal Health Momnibus builds on existing legislation to comprehensively address every dimension of the maternal health crisis in America.
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[Report] Centering Black Mothers in California
– The Centering Black Mothers in California report shows how social policies, structural racism, and community and neighborhood conditions impact the health of Black birthing people and babies. In California and across the United States, Black mothers experience some of the highest rates of life-threatening childbirth complications, deaths from pregnancy-related causes, and babies born too early or too small.
The report was informed by Black women leaders and community members in California. Their unique insights helped develop the findings and recommendations to improve the health outcomes of Black mothers and babies.
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California Black Birth Justice Agenda 2023
– The California Black Birth Justice Agenda seeks to amplify and uplift coordinated, strategic actions to advance birth justice for Black Californians, and subsequently Californians of all races and ethnicities. This agenda is a tool and a call to action for everyone–including our policymakers, health systems, health insurance plans, community-based organizations, professional associations, and more.
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Black Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda
– In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda presents the 2023 Black Reproductive Justice Policy Agenda
Share the Campaign
Use our social media toolkit with sample posts, graphics and hashtags to share the campaign with your networks.