Midwives deliver for Black moms-to-be
Victoria Project steps up as virus measures complicate births
Aysha-Samon Stokes’ Mother’s Day went just as planned.
She arrived at Kindred Space L.A. birth center about 10 p.m. on May 9, stepped into a bathtub and shortly before midnight pushed her newborn son, Nikko, into the arms of her boyfriend, Dennis Richmond.
Minutes later, she climbed into a bed, wrapped her arms around the baby and breastfed him as “Heartbreak Anniversary” by Giveon played in the background and Richmond massaged her feet.
She felt relieved and happy, surrounded by her niece, boyfriend, sister and two midwives who carefully guided
“A lot of Black women die in the hospital, and that does concern me.”
— Aysha-Samon Stokes, who gave birth on Mother’s Day
her through labor. There was something else giving her peace of mind: Her childbirth bill was covered by the Victoria Project, a nonprofit that helps women in Los Angeles County pay their childbirth-related expenses.
Stokes found out about the Victoria Project during her last trimester from midwives Allegra Hill and Kimberly Durdin, who run Kindred Space L.A.
It was not a single event that made her consider home birth, she said, but rather a series of memories from her previous two pregnancies: An obstetrician-gynecologist who couldn’t remember her name, a nurse who ignored her plea for an epidural when her pain became intolerable and a cesarean section with her first pregnancy that she felt was unnecessary.
Something else was at stake once she began learning about the high mortality rate among women like herself.
“A lot of Black women die in the hospital, and that does concern me,” said Stokes, 26.
The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on many women’s birth plans, forcing them to adjust to quickly changing hospital policies and, in some cases, labor in isolation and even opt for home birth. The pandemic has been especially hard on mothers like Stokes, who even before the pandemic had been part of terrifying statistics that show Black women in the U.S. have more than a three times higher risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth than White women.
Black mothers and infants have been disproportionately affected by pregnancyand birth-related complications. Nearly 700 women die each year in the U.S. as a result of pregnancy-related complications.
In Southern California:
• In Los Angeles County, mortality rates among Black mothers from perinatal complications are four times higher compared to White women. Black infants are three times more likely to die before reaching their first birthday.
• In Riverside County, Black newborns are three times more likely to die than their White counterparts.
• Officials in Orange County reported in 2020 the death of one Black infant out of 392 African American births. So far in 2021, no deaths have been reported among Black infants or mothers, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency’s preliminary report.
San Bernardino County, meanwhile, reported 11.3 deaths for every 1,000 Black infants born, the 2011-15 data show.
In 2018, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health pledged to work on reversing the trend and reducing the county’s gap in Black and White infant mortality rates by 30% by 2023.
Dr. Deborah Allen, deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said “midwives are a very important voice but they are a very small group of people. They’re all wonderful, but they have to be part of something bigger. It has to go way beyond that. It has to include medical professionals.”
There needs to be a movement, Allen said, that would involve systematic changes on the part of hospitals, medical professionals, and federal and state government agencies to make sure Black women feel safe to deliver their babies, whether at home or at hospitals.
“When we really want to have equality in birth outcomes, we need more than equal health care — we need equal lives,” she said.
Many of the county’s programs, Allen added, focus on addressing the consequences of intergenerational racism on the health of Black women.
The Los Angeles County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Initiative, launched by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and First 5 L.A. along with community partners, is offering no-cost doula care to Black pregnant people in the Antelope Valley, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and South L.A.
Doulas work with pregnant and birthing mothers before, during and after delivery to provide emotional and physical support and guidance. Studies show that doula care proved to be effective with reductions in