Listen To Black Women
Harris Bill Focuses on Growing Public Health Crisis
Veronica Haywood, NLC San Antonio
Achieving health equity for Black women starts with addressing the racial biases in our healthcare system and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) is pushing a conversation that may be uncomfortable for some. Last month, Harris introduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act, which would provide $30 million in annual grants to train against racial bias and to incentivize healthcare professionals, addressing the disparity in maternal health outcomes.
Black maternal mortality is a public health crisis that has gained attention this year in part because of several media reports and public remarks from celebrities such as Serena Williams — who suffered severe life threatening complicationsafter the birth of her daughter — and TV judge Glenda Hatchett — who lost her daughter-in-law due to blood loss 12 hours after a scheduled cesarean delivery. If you are a Black woman giving birth in the United States, you’re automatically at a three times greater risk to die in the delivery room than their white counterparts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this means Black women are 243 percent more likely to die from pregnancyor childbirth-related causes than White women.
Harris’s bill would provide up to $5 million grants for bias training at medical schools and health programs, with a priority on obstetrics and gynecology programs and $25 million for states to incentivize healthcare providers to reduce mortality rates and racial disparities.
It would also instruct the National Academy of Medicine to determine how to incorporate bias recognition into medical schools. For decades, the United States’ healthcare system has failed black women with visible systemic racism, which minimizes and dismisses health issues. Even worse, clinicians continue to ignore concerns from mothers following childbirth, which results in death for many. Incorporating bias recognition into medical schools is crucial as we have a growing diverse culture of patients seeking care.
In 2012, researchers at the University of Virginia discovered, through a group of 222 white medical students and residents, that doctors believed in phony biological differences between Black and White people, including beliefs such as, “Blacks age more slowly than Whites; their nerve endings are less sensitive than Whites’; their blood coagulates more quickly than Whites’; [and] their skin is thicker than Whites.” If that’s not alarming enough, in 2012, researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found doctors with“unconscious racial biases tend to dominate conversations with African-American patients,” according to Medical News Today.
Women who are becoming mothers shouldn’t have to deal with avoidable risks to themselves or their baby, said Harris, who is the only black woman serving in the U.S. Senate. The passing of this bill will be a uphill battle, but in addition to Harris, the bill is sponsored by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Doug Jones (D-AL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tom Carper (D-DE), Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
“Health equity for Black women can only happen if we recognize and address persistent biases in our health system,” said Senator Harris. “This bill is a step towards ensuring that all women have access to culturally competent, holistic care, and to address the implicit biases in our system.”
Thank you to Senator Harris for standing up for better healthcare for women and recognizing that systemic change is needed toresolve this public health crisis.
Veronica Haywood is a registered nurse,lactation consultant, women’s health nurse practitioner student, and co-founder of her nonprofit Latched Support. She is also a member of the New Leaders Council-San Antonio Executive Board, a 2017 NLC San Antonio fellow, and a NLC Life Entrepreneurship trainer. She can be reached at veronicahaywood@gmail.com.
