Midwifery Today

"For black women in America, an inescapable atmosphere of societal and systemic racism can create a kind of toxic physiological stress, resulting in conditions ― including hypertension and pre-eclampsia ― that leads directly to higher rates of infant and maternal death. And that societal racism is further expressed in a pervasive, longstanding racial bias in health care ― including the dismissal of legitimate concerns and symptoms ― that can help explain poor birth outcomes even in the case of black women with the most advantages.

-Linda Villarosa