ArticleReproductive biomedicine & society online2020
Reproducing while Black: The crisis of Black maternal health, obstetric racism and assisted reproductive technology.
Article in Reproductive biomedicine & society online, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed.
- Manifestations of Anti-Black Racism and Worry About Pregnancy and Birthing While Black: A Cross-sectional Secondary Analysis of Giving Voice to Mothers.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- Understanding Black Women's Lived Experiences of Medical Mistrust and Trust in the Reproductive Care Setting: A Nested Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Study.Research square · 2026Article
- Superwoman Schema Endorsement and its Association to Perceived Stress During Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes among Non-Hispanic Black American Women.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- "You think everything's fine and then it starts not being fine": a qualitative descriptive study exploring the prenatal testing experiences of Black women living in England.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Black Women's Mental Health Needs and Recommendations After Spontaneous Preterm Birth: A Qualitative Study.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Article
- Centering Cultural Approaches in Community-Based Participatory Research to Address the Black Maternal Health Crisis.AJPM focus · 2025Article
- "Because I Was a Criminal and Drug Addict.": Experiences of Anti-Black Gendered Racism and Reproductive Injustice Among Black Pregnant and Postpartum Women with a Substance Use Disorder and Incarceration and Family Policing Histories.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Experiences of discrimination across the life course among pregnancy planners in the United States and Canada.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Chicago Neighborhood Context and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Maternal Diabetes.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- An Exploration of Maternal Health Care Providers' Perspectives on Respectful Maternity Care in the United States: A Scoping Review Protocol.Health equity · 2025Review
- Defining knowledge gaps in preterm birth research: Can biomarkers fill the gaps?Frontiers in medicine · 2025Review
- Transforming medical anthropology: Community, praxis, and the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collaboratory.Medical anthropology quarterly · 2024Article
- Collaborative Training as a Conduit to Build Knowledge in Black Birth Workers.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Racism in obstetric care: a psychometric study of the Gendered Racial Microaggressions Scale among Global Majority birthing people in obstetric contexts.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Article
- The intersection of traumatic childbirth and obstetric racism: A qualitative study.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2024Article
- The Maternal Voice: Exploration of Mothers and Birthing Individuals' Voices in Patient Safety Event and Feedback Reports.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- We bawl so we are heard: the stories we must tell about obstetric racism.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2023Article
- Differences in Determinants: Racialized Obstetric Care and Increases in U.S. State Labor Induction Rates.Journal of health and social behavior · 2023Article
- Black feminist theory in maternal health research: A review of concepts and future directions.Sociology compass · 2023Article
- Suggestions for political reparations for reproductive abuses against Black women.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
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Abstract
Black women bear the burden of a number of crises related to reproduction. Historically, their reproduction has been governed in relation to the slave economy, and connected to this, they have been experimented upon and subjected to exploitative medical interventions and policies. Even now, they are more likely to experience premature births and more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications. Their reproductive lives have been beleaguered by racism. This reality, as this article points out, shapes the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) by Black women. Using the framework of obstetric racism, I suggest that, in addition to the crisis of adverse maternal health outcomes, such as premature birth, low-birthweight infants and maternal death, Black women also face the crisis of racism in their medical encounters as they attempt to conceive through ART. Obstetric racism is enacted on racialized bodies that have historically experienced subjugation, especially, but not solely, reproductive subjugation. In my prior work, I delineated four dimensions of obstetric racism: diagnostic lapses; neglect, dismissiveness or disrespect; intentionally causing pain; and coercion. In this article, I extend that framework and explore three additional dimensions of obstetric racism: ceremonies of degradation; medical abuse; and racial reconnaissance. This article is based on ethnographic work from 2011 to 2019, during which time I collected narratives of US-based Black women and documented the circumstances under which they experienced obstetric racism in their interactions with medical personnel while attempting conception through ART.
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