From KUT:
Travis County doesn’t have to wait to address racial disparities in maternal mortality, a group of mothers, health care professionals, policymakers and community leaders said yesterday during a summit at Huston-Tillotson University.
In Texas, black women account for a small fraction of women who give birth, but make up about a third of the maternal deaths.
Marsha Jones, the co-founder and executive director of the reproductive health group The Afiya Center, says black women are dying regardless of their social status. She says years of institutional racism and personal prejudice has stacked the deck against black women seeking medical care when they’re pregnant.
“My education and even my social circle won’t buy me out of this,” she said. “It won’t get me out of this.