In today's episode Simone continues on their reflections around Black Maternal Health Week which took place in April earlier this year, organised by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance: https://blackmamasmatter.org/

The first episode covering this topic can be found here: How Black women and others experience discrimination at work while pregnant https://www.buzzsprout.com/1623760/episodes/17304518

Simone considers this years theme Healing Legacies: strengthening Black maternal health through collective action and advocacy. They begin by reminding us of the range of people who experience pregnancies, and define and explore the spectrum of gender identities.

They then talk about the role of doulas in supporting pregnant people during their birth process and postpartum.

They then take the article: Doulas, Racism, and Whiteness: How Birth Support Workers Process Advocacy towards Women of Color by Juan L. Salinas, Manisha Salinas and Megan Kahn as a jumping off point: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/1/19

They talk about the findings of this paper and combine that with their own lived experience and knowledge of other research and advocacy to go through the specific issues faced by both Black doulas and Black birthing people.

They finish by looking at another article: Addressing Systemic Racism in Birth Doula Services to Reduce Health Inequities in the United States by Marieke S Van Eijk, Grace A Guenther, Paula M Kett, Andrew D Jopson, Bianca K Frogner and Susan M Skillman https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8896213/

And recommending Episode 182 of the podcast Evidence Based Birth: Black-led Queer and Trans Birth Work with Mystique Hargrove, Kortney Lapeyrolerie, and Nadine Ashby https://evidencebasedbirth.com/black-led-queer-and-trans-birth-work-with-mystique-hargrove-kortney-lapeyrolerie-and-nadine-ashby/

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