[gentle music]
- Dr. Batchlor, you make an excellent point in the film
that this is a health care crisis
that is not only affecting Black birthing people,
but it's also emblematic of deeper issues
within our overall health care system.
Can you talk more about why everyone should be concerned
about this, whether or not it directly affects them?
- In some ways, the problem of Black maternal mortality
is a canary in the coal mine, you might say.
Because our country has worst outcomes
for all women who are birthing.
So we have a much higher rate
of both serious morbidity complications
and mortality for women in this country
than in all other economically developed countries.
So we're not doing very well with that.
And the disparities that we see in maternal health
are also similar to the disparities we see
in general health care.
So I lead a private safety-net hospital and health system
that serves a low-income community
of over 1 million people of color.
Our community is severely underresourced
and suffers from poor health
and large health disparities.
As a community, we're missing 1,500 providers
compared to other communities.
And it's rooted in policy decisions that are being made
in this country.
- 'Birthing Justice' does a good job
of putting faces, names, and stories to those statistics
that we've been talking about here today.
And I feel like that's so important
when drafting and promoting legislation around these issues.
What are some current bills
that people in our audience can go home
and lean on their local politicians
to help change this problem,
to help eradicate this crisis?
- Well, one, I think, just supporting the national act,
which is the Momnibus Act-
which has been reintroduced, I think, just recently-
supporting that, because inside that act is
basically 12 bills.
One of 'em actually passed,
and that was the support for veteran birthing people.
But the rest of the act actually, you know,
supports, you know, all the sort of wraparound things
that both Dr. Batchlor and Dr. Marcelle was talking about,
like housing-safe housing,
paid leave, nutritious food,
access to care through transportation,
if that's what's needed.
So that bill actually, you know,
sort of looks at all of the social determinants
and, and supports those issues
that are also causing a Black woman not to have,
a birth, you know, a beautiful birth journey
that we are looking for her to have.
- The fight to save the lives of Black birthing people
is so complicated and so emotional,
but it's, it's so deeply worth it.
And, Dr. Marcelle, I feel like you're the perfect person
to give us a, a joyful birthing story.
- So we are D.C.'s only freestanding birth center.
We are also one of three federally qualified health centers
that has a birth center in the nation,
which is a really, really beautiful model.
Thank you. [audience applauding]
That we need more of.
Out of the 400-plus birth centers in this country,
about 15 accept Medicaid.
And probably about 15 are Black-owned.
And so we are really, really a gem
'cause we're a birth center, we also accept Medicaid.
And out-of-hospital birth can be transformative.
And we do deal with a lotta families
that may be deemed high-risk,
but they're more so high-risk socially
more than they are high-risk medically.
So one of my favorite birth stories,
I had a, a young woman who everybody in the office said
she was, like, super mean.
She was, but anyway.
[audience and participants laughing]
She came in, and what I loved about her
was, like, her appearance was very like,
'This is who I am,' and, like, she had
all these beautiful tattoos and, like, piercings.
And with the, like, tough exterior-
which I, which I understand why she had it-
I know that people would treat her funny
in different spaces.
And here we got to have
this, like, really incredible birth center birth.
She was the first in her family
to have a birth center birth.
And there was this moment that I was sharing with you
where she was, like, on hands and knees
trying to push out her baby, but in one arm,
she had, like, her husband; in one arm, she had her sister;
and from the back, it looked she was making a heart.
And then, like, the birth assistant was on one side
giving counter-pressure.
The doula was on the other side giving counter-pressure.
And I'm at the perineum.
Y'all, that's where the baby come out.
[audience laughing] I'm at the perineum-
[laughing]
where we're waiting for this baby,
and, like, there's all these Black hands on her.
And that baby came out with so much joy,
and I swear to God, she smiled.
[gentle music] But, like,
[audience laughing]
those are the moments that I, like, live for
because I know if she went somewhere else,
somebody would've been frustrated with her,
or not treated her the right way,
or given her the opportunity
to have a out-of-hospital birth.
[gentle music continues]