Many of us have come across that TikToker who has compiled a\u00a0list of \u201ccons\u201d\u00a0to pregnancy. When videos of women showing the reality of motherhood find their way onto our For You Pages, people flood comments calling for the \u201cgirl with the list.\u201d Through the media, we are often provided with reasons to not have children. There are 350 reasons, according to\u00a0@yuniquethought\u2019s page. While we have come to an understanding that pregnancy is, undeniably, dangerous, this reality is amplified in the experience of Black women\u2014specifically in the West.
\nPregnancy-related death rates are concerning, but the mortality rate of pregnant Black women is both alarming and frightening. In the United States, for instance, Black women \u201care three times more likely to\u00a0die from\u00a0pregnancy-related causes than white women,\u201d more likely to experience\u00a0preventable maternal deaths, and more likely to undergo\u00a0maternal health complications. In the United Kingdom, as of 2020, Black women are four times more likely to\u00a0die during childbirth\u00a0than their white counterparts. Yet, all stand true regardless of socio-economic status, access to health care systems, and insurance coverage. The horrific pregnancy stories of Beyonc\u00e9 and Serena Williams are two examples of many.
\nIn Canada, data is\u00a0scarce. As public health specialist Dr. Onye Nnorom\u00a0states, Canada\u2019s \u201ccurrent [medical] practices are hurting Black Canadians, because there is little to no health care data or research that is specific to race or ethnicity.\u201d
\nThis inhumanity finds its roots in slavery. In 1808, the United States declared a\u00a0federal ban\u00a0on the importing of slaves, creating a dependency on domestic slave birth. The results? A drive for medical innovation and the\u00a0birth of gynecology\u00a0as a field in North America. James Marion Sims, an unpleasantly-celebrated American physician, set to\u00a0experiment\u00a0his \u201cbrilliant achievements\u201d on Black women. Like many other physicians in the 1830s, Sims\u2019 work was fueled by a source of pernicious biological folk and weaponized faith: one\u00a0claiming that\u00a0Black people were not capable of experiencing pain.
\nSome may dictate this to be trivial history, but the disparities in the health care system continue to haunt the contemporary world. When medical institutes echo the teachings of these baseless and racist ideas, the pillars of health care in the West curate a systemic injustice that directly targets Black women. It reinforces a past we struggle to detach from, a past we claim to have learned and evolved beyond.
\nIn 2021,\u00a0a medical illustration\u00a0created by Chidiebere Ibe, a Nigerian medical student at the Kyiv Medical University, consumed the internet. Its reason for going viral was simple: it featured a pregnancy diagram of a Black mother and fetus. While the majority of the general public stood in awe of the illustration, it was the reaction of medical specialists that defined the state of the health care system\u2014it was the first time for many to interact with a medical diagram depicting a Black woman. Concerning, to say the least.
\nSo, the first step toward change is simple\u2014we must acknowledge the existence of the disparities. Whether that is done within your community or if we direct it to the education system, it is critical for reality to be put on display. But our duties should lie beyond that. Black women\u2019s voices need to be centralized. When we chant that Black women have gone unheard, we do not merely refer to the social sphere. Black women are actively silenced and ignored in our hospitals, clinics, and birth centres.
\nSo, the next time you comment on a post calling for \u201cthat girl with the list,\u201d make sure it is for one last reason: the health care system.<\/p>\n