NORFOLK, Va. — Heather Wilson lost her daughter — and nearly her life — the first time she gave birth. The Virginia Beach, Virginia, resident developed a potentially fatal condition and her blood pressure skyrocketed during labor.
During her second pregnancy, she sought out a doctor specializing in high-risk cases, thinking it would ensure she received the best care. But Wilson said the staff skipped crucial steps, such as testing for the condition that led to her firstborn’s death, and it routinely dismissed her questions and concerns.
“They just didn’t take me seriously and I think it had everything to do with the color of my skin,” said Wilson, a Black woman.
Maternal death rates continue to rise across the country — and far more Black women are dying during childbirth than white women, according to the latest figures. A freshman lawmaker from Portsmouth tried to do something about it, but his bill was put aside until next year.
“This issue has been ongoing for generations,” Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Portsmouth, said recently.
Clark’s bill would have directed the Virginia Board of Health to require hospitals’ maternity staff to complete implicit bias training.
Implicit biases are the beliefs or attitudes that may unconsciously affect someone’s actions and decisions toward a specific group of people. Implicit bias training helps individuals recognize and counteract these tendencies.
“Sometimes people have a bias that they might not even be aware of, but they could still be acting on it,” Clark said. “Everything starts with education and once we know better, hopefully we will do better.”
Clark’s bill and two others that would have required all medical practitioners to undergo bias training were carried over to 2023. Clark said he will resume pushing for it next year.
“I’m going to work to make the legislation stronger this summer, get all the stakeholders at the table and then bring it back to the committee,” he said.
Compared with other developed nations, the United States routinely ranks in the bottom for maternal health — and new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the problem is getting worse.
The CDC found 861 women died of maternal causes in 2020, up from 754 in 2019 and 658 in 2018. Black women are at the highest risk, dying at about three times the rate of white women.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the maternal death rates are “unacceptable,” and the racial disparities are “even more concerning.”
“Differences in outcomes result from many factors, including racism and bias in access to and delivery of quality health care,” the organization states on its website.
In Virginia, pregnant Black women are more likely to receive a delayed diagnosis, or lack thereof, or an inadequate assessment about their risk factors, according to Melanie Rouse, manager of the Virginia Maternal Mortality Review Team. The VMMRT is a group within the Virginia Department of Health that examines and works to prevent maternal deaths.
Rouse believes bias training would be beneficial.
“It’s important to understand how the language that we use or the way that we speak to patients can impact the care and their receptiveness to that care,” she said.
Macaulay Porter, spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, said his administration is committed to supporting mothers.
“Mothers shouldn’t have to fear for their life when bringing a child into the world,” Porter wrote in an email. “... The governor remains committed to improving Virginia’s maternal health and reducing death rates, especially among minority women in Virginia.”
Erica McAfee, a former Chesapeake resident who resides in northern Virginia, runs a podcast called “Sisters in Loss” that shares Black women’s stories about pregnancy and infant loss.
She said many Black women tell her they had medical concerns that were dismissed, or pain that was minimalized, while others weren’t given information about their health care options or conditions.
Akilah White, a doula and childbirth educator in Virginia Beach, said many Black women seek her services because they are afraid they’ll be overlooked in the delivery room. Some even opted for home births when hospitals banned doulas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
White, who works with clients of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds, said she has noticed Black women tend to be treated differently in the delivery room and “it doesn’t seem to matter about their social class.”
Wilson now works to raise awareness and help other women.
She shared her story last year with Vice President Kamala Harris during a roundtable discussion about Black maternal health care. She also runs Kennedy’s Angel Gowns, a nonprofit that supports families experiencing miscarriages or infant loss.
“I hope change is coming,” she said. “It should never be the case where the color of your skin is the reason you weren’t heard.”
____
