Birth Justice Module 4

Racism in Healthcare

“When race stops being the precursor to how people will

be received into the health care and other systems, the

outcomes will be different… If we would lean on the voices,

experiences, traditions, leadership, and ingenuity of Black

women to create solutions and strategies, we would begin

to successfully address this issue.”– Marsha Jones

Read The Black Paper “Setting the Standard for Holistic Care of and for Black Women” (21 pages) from 2018 by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, which discusses the context of the Black maternal mortality rate in the U.S. and shares their recommendations. (CW: this paper does not use inclusive language.)

Journal prompts:

• What is one thing that you read in this paper about doulas that you already knew?

• What is one thing that surprised you? Do you have any new awareness or insights for your personal practice?

Read “The Face of the Doula Community,” pages 23-29, in Reproductive Justice and Childbirth Reform: Doulas as Agents of Social Change, a 2012 doctoral thesis by Monica Reese Basile. (CW: use of the term “transgendered”, transgender is the appropriate term.)

Journal prompts: 

• What comes up for you as you read this excerpt? Does anything become clearer to you -- or more confusing?

• How do you see (or want to see) echoes of these ideas in your own doula work?