Medicalized Birth and the Attack on Black Motherhood

By Alexa Spencer, Word in Black

Black moms are fighting to return to the empowered, holistic care lost when Black lay midwives were eradicated in the mid-1900s.

Giving birth wasn’t always a medicalized event with unnecessary interventions and fatal or near-death experiences in hospitals. Some 70-odd years ago, Black mothers were nursed at the bedside by well-respected Black midwives. 

The caretakers supported their community’s moms through all stages of childbirth — pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. In a time when EMS and cell phones didn’t exist, some traveled on foot to homes when they “felt” it was time. 

But they arrived. Carrying totes packed with tools and minds with a wealth of knowledge pre-dating American chattel slavery. 

That system of mother-centered, communal care was destroyed in the mid-1900s when regulations were imposed on the profession. The Grand Midwives, as they’re called, were forced to undergo licensing or leave the work altogether. 

Maternal care for Black women hasn’t been the same since. But Black moms are fighting to get back what was lost. 

Read more about this fight.

Recently, a Black couple lost their child due to accusations of medical neglect, even though they were working with a midwife.

More stories about the Black experience.