The beginning of October marks the start of Nebraska’s Black Maternal Health Month, a designation advocates hope will raise awareness of the high maternal mortality rates and health disparities of Black birthing people.
Reproductive justice organization I Be Black Girl hosted an event for the month’s launch at their facility in Omaha. This year’s theme is ‘We’re Here, Now What?’ Executive Director Ashlei Spivey said this month is the time to call for more support in Black maternity care.
“We have an opportunity to have impactful change today, not tomorrow, not seven years from now, but right now,” she said. “We can make a commitment to changing the experiences for our Black pregnant people and folks with the capacity for pregnancy and root that in joy and abundance.”
Mother, community health worker and doula Justice Banks hopes to bring attention to the importance of her role in maternity care.
“I’m speaking up for doing a call to action for Nebraska on why doulas are necessary, especially for everyone, specifically for black women, to help those birth outcomes to be positive under medica, they should be covered under Medicaid coverage like other states in the country,” she said.
Beyond doula care, Spivey cited Nebraska ranks as the second highest in the U.S. for maternity care deserts.
“What we are experiencing now around maternal and child health, the negative outcomes, does not have to live. We can chart a course that is rooted in abundance and joy, in the care that we need,” she said.