Maternal Health Outcomes

MOTHERING IN ACTION

Author

LaShauna Austria
May 15, 2024

BLACK MOTHER WOMAN
Audre Lorde

I cannot recall you gentle.
yet through your heavy love
I have become
an image of your once-delicate flesh
split with deceitful longings.
When strangers come and compliment me
your aged spirit takes a bow
jingling with pride
but once you hid that secret
in the center of your fury
hanging me
with deep breasts and wiry hair
your own split flesh
and long-suffering eyes
buried in myths of little worth.

But I have peeled away your anger
down to its core of love
and look mother
I am     
a dark temple where your true spirit rises
beautiful and tough as chestnut
stanchion against nightmares of weakness
and if my eyes conceal
a squadron of conflicting rebellions
I learned from you
to define myself
through your denials.

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month

Paying tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America's history and are instrumental in its future success.

Listening to Mothers in California is the first state-level Listening to Mothers survey. It explores the views and experiences of childbearing women with an in-depth focus on maternity care. This issue brief highlights results from Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women survey respondents. It underscores many social and economic issues affecting pregnant and parenting API women, including their mental health, experiences with discrimination, postpartum experience and issues related to paid work.

Let’s Talk About Maternal Mental Health & Asian American/Pacific Islander Moms

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) month and it is time to shine a light on AAPI moms and maternal mental health. Research has shown that Asian women are nearly 9 times more likely to report thoughts about suicide compared to white women in the immediate postpartum period, and yet, there remains a huge gap in culturally competent maternal mental health resources for Asian moms.

Jewish American Heritage Month

Women leading the path to peace: the Mother’s Call of Palestinian and Israeli women

In the ever-challenging landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where tensions persist and the hope for peace often feels distant, a remarkable glimmer emerges from an unexpected place: the resilience and determination of women. Despite the barriers of political divide and historical animosity, Palestinian and Israeli women are quietly building connections, bridging gaps and working towards a shared goal — peace.

‘Like family’: three women – two Palestinian, one Jewish – find peace amid campus chaos

The protests sweeping US universities have brought intense division, but some students have treasured hope, unity, solidarity and love.

Ginsborg is Jewish, and Omer and Abdallah are first-generation Palestinian American. They hail from disparate corners of California, with varying dreams and goals for the future. Ginsborg, a second-year student, is a photography and film-making major. Omer is majoring in political science and communication, and Abdallah in international relations and ethnic studies; both are set to graduate in just a few weeks.

Protecting Black Mothers

Reclaiming Power: The Black Maternal Crisis (16 minute watch)

‎Consider This from NPR: The Black Maternal Mortality Crisis and Why It Remains an Issue on Apple Podcasts

The U.S. has the worst maternal mortality rate of high-income countries globally, and the numbers have only grown. According to a new study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association – maternal death rates remain the highest among Black women, and those high rates have more than doubled over the last twenty years.

Black Motherhood | Liberated Mothers and Others

Free Black motherhood supports Black mothers and others who believe in a more affirming motherhood to raise healthy children.

We are Black mothers and others who believe in a more affirming motherhood. Our spirits and embodied knowing reject narratives that say our humanity ends once we give birth.

Black mothers are sold an image of motherhood of struggle and sacrifice from the moment we’re expecting. We’re told losing ourselves is foundational to liberating our families. But real community healing begins with liberated mothering.

Advocacy

Who Gets to Be a Mother?

Making motherhood accessible for all requires moving away from punitive models—including foster care—that criminalize poverty.

Black Mothers Are Dying at an Alarming Rate—Here's How You Can Be an Ally

becoming an ally for Black birth justice can help save the lives of pregnant and parenting women

Our Story & Mission | Pregnancy Justice

Pregnancy Justice protects and advances pregnant people’s bodily autonomy and rights by defending those who have been criminalized, advocating for proactive policy and legal change, and shifting the public narrative. We focus on those most vulnerable to investigation, arrest, detention, or family separation related to pregnancy. This includes women and people who are poor, of color, with disabilities, do not conform to gender binary stereotypes, and/or use drugs.

Recommended Reading

Poetic Persona is a captivating collection of poetic expressions that delves deep into the intertwining themes of spirituality, Black identity, womanhood, and relationships. With evocative verse and poignant imagery, Poetic Persona takes readers on a profoundjourney. Within these pages, author Mtende Roll navigates the complexities of spiritual connection, drawing from her journeys and universal truths to illuminate the soul's yearning for meaning and guidance.

The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. In this groundbreaking work, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the damage caused by racism in America from the perspective of body-centered psychology. He argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn't just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans--our police.

My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for all of us to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body, and introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.

Community Support

"In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist."
Angela Davis

Seeds of Change Consulting

Our firm is comprised of sector experts and rising stars — a diverse community of professionals with shared values and a deep commitment to social and economic justice.