Olympic athlete Tori Bowie died of childbirth complications in April. Her death is helping shine a light on the risks of pregnancy for Black women.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France will be the first Olympics in history to have the same number of female and male athletes participating.
But as some strides in equality are being made, some Olympians are speaking out about disparities outside the world of sports.
Olympic athlete Tori Bowie died of childbirth complications in April. Her death is helping shine a light on the risks of pregnancy for Black women.
According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related complication than White women.
Athlete superstars like Serena Williams and Allyson Felix have shared their own stories of pregnancy and childbirth complications.
“I think we should all really appreciate these strong athletes for bringing these issues forward,” University of Tennessee associate professor Dr. Samantha Ehrlich said.
Ehrlich is a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist whose research focuses on adverse outcomes related to diabetes and pregnancy. She has been listening closely as Black women recount their stories of complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
“When you’re Black, the risk of adverse outcomes is higher,” Ehrlich explained. “We had Alison Felix experience preeclampsia with her pregnancy, Serena Williams had the embolism during hers.”
Ehrlich said there are some warning signs of complications, including vaginal bleeding during strenuous exercise, excessive swelling or shortness of breath.
“Something that is super tragic about the Tori Bowie case is that she was alone. We all like to think maybe if somebody had been there to call for help, her outcome would have been very different,” Ehrlich added.
Olympic athlete or not, when it comes to maternal health, Ehrlich said it’s clear more needs to be done. “There is sort of preventable suffering in regards of mortality and morbidity, and it’s particularly affecting certain populations. Since there are some things we can do about that, I definitely believe that we should.”
