Historical foundations rooted in reproductive oppression have implications for how racism has been integrated into the structures of society, including public policies, institutional practices, and cultural representations that reinforce racial inequality in maternal health. This article examines these connections and sheds light on how they perpetuate both racial disparities in maternal health and high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity among Black women.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – National Center for Health Statistics, “Maternal Mortality,”November20, 2019, available at <https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/maternal-mortality/index.htm> (last visited February 13, 2020).
3.
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4.
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M.J.Schwartz. Birthing A Slave: Motherhood and Medicine in the Antebellum South (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006): at 1.
7.
D.G.White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves In The Plantation South (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1999): at 62.
8.
D.Roberts, Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (New York: Pantheon Books, 1997): at 61.
9.
C.Johnson, P.Smith, and the WGBH Research Team, Africans in America: America’s Journey through Slavery (New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1998): at 41-42.
10.
See Roberts, supra note 8, at 24.
11.
See White, supra note 7, at 70.
12.
T.Jefferson and E.M.Betts, Thomas Jefferson’s Farm Book (Monticello: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, 1999): at 46.
13.
See Roberts, supra note 8, at 26.
14.
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15.
See Roberts, supra note 8, at 26.
16.
B.Hooks, Killing Rage: Ending Racism (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995): at 35.
17.
R.Fogel and S.Engerman, Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1989): at 78.
18.
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19.
See Hooks, supra note 16, at 18.
20.
H.Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (New York: Penguin Books, 2000): at 3.
21.
See Roberts, supra note 8, at 36.
22.
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23.
Id. at 58.
24.
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25.
See Schwartz, supra note 6, at 105.
26.
Id. at 229.
27.
Id. at 229.
28.
Id. at 229.
29.
Id. at 229.
30.
Id. at 229.
31.
See Washington, supra note 24, at 2.
32.
Id. at 2.
33.
See Schwartz, supra note 6, at 238-239.
34.
See Washington, supra note 24, at 2.
35.
Id. at 2.
36.
R.P.Petchesky, Abortion and Woman’s Choice: The State, Sexuality, & Reproductive Freedom (Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1990): at 87.
37.
See Washington, supra note 24, at 191.
38.
Id. at 192.
39.
R.M.Kluchin, Fit to Be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1950-1980 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2009): at 15.
40.
Id. at 15.
41.
Id. at 15.
42.
Id. at 15.
43.
Id. at 15.
44.
See Roberts, supra note 8, at 91.
45.
Id. at 95.
46.
M.Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge: South End Press, 2000): at 84.
47.
J.Silliman, et al., Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice (Cambridge: South End Press, 2004): at 4.
48.
Id. at 4.
49.
Personal communication from Loretta Ross to author, October 20, 2005.
50.
See Silliman, supra note 47, at 5.
51.
Id. at 5.
52.
See Marable, supra note 46, at 197.
53.
See Silliman, supra note 47, at 55.
54.
Id. at 55.
55.
B.Smedley, et al., Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003): at 123.
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