The perinatal provider and advocacy organization opened a new location in Ward 7. Residents of Wards 7 and 8 made up 70% of pregnancy-associated deaths in recent years.

“There’s nothing about Black birthing people that makes them more likely to die,” says the study’s co-author. “It’s the environments to which they’re exposed in our social, environmental, and health systems.”

Black women across the region share how they’ve personally experienced the ways racism plays out in pregnancy and perinatal care.

One local midwifery practice reports doubling its clientele this month.