Advocates in the room: Black and Brown Birthing Summit highlights whole-family approach

As a new mother in the 1970s, Sameerah Bilal-Roby was tricked by her medical provider into having a tubal ligation.

She’s spent decades fighting for better outcomes for Black and brown mothers and children, including through her work at the African American Babies Coalition, w hich she founded in 2005.

Black and brown pregnant women have long experienced unsafe childbirth, higher infant mortality, and health care inequalities, Bilal-Roby said.

The United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among wealthy countries. Minnesota is no exception, with Black and Native American mothers most at risk of pregnancy-related complications and death.

Earlier this month, the coalition hosted its fourth Black and Brown Birthing Summit to call attention to continuing disparities in maternal health care and advocate for long-term solutions, work that Bilal-Roby says is as urgent now as it was two decades ago.

“Health care institutions have been making decisions in Black and brown families’ reproduction for decades and still continue to provide that misinformation,” she said.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

How did you get involved with Wilder Foundation’s African American Babies Coalition? What was the need that you saw back in 2005?

At that time, we were very concerned with parenting and relationship-building in schools because the barriers and gaps were so large. We felt that even some of the messaging on brain research on parenting was not reaching all the groups. And so some of our children were really having difficulty in how we went about it.

Back then, there were 21 of us. We sat down and looked at all the things we could identify as gaps. Then, we broke up into task forces and got to work. Those task forces basically gave me my duties and made me see the struggles in parenting, and I decided to take action.

The main parts of our work were community awareness, education and training. We worked with parents, clinics and government agencies to make sure there were equal representations for communities.

The work we did involved multiple steps, including talking to clinics, providing parents with training about healthy living and parenting, and working with agencies and health care institutions to ensure equal representation in communities.

How would you describe the crisis that African American and American Indian pregnant women face in the United States?

Let me give an example: my first baby was born in 1973, my next was in ’75, and the one after that was born in 1977 and in all of those three pregnancies, I was given misinformation about when I should or should not go into labor. At one point, I had a doctor who said having three children in three years was too much and tricked me into [having] my tubes tied.

That was back in the 1970s, and those same treatments and misinformation continue to exist to this day.

On the other hand, isn’t it ironic that the European community of women do not face the same high incidents of maternal and baby deaths in this country?

So basically, what you are saying is that someone decided what you need to do with your maternal choice?

That’s what I’m saying! Basically, there is systemic racism that was and still is facing Black and brown mothers. Because we were not considered equal.

How does Minnesota fit into this picture?

Minnesota has one of the highest, if not the highest, incidents and mortality in the country, period!

Do you think the situation has improved or stayed the same since the 1970s when you had your children?

Well, I’m going to say we know that incidents of birth have stayed where it was at. No improvement. Statistics showed that , and anybody can go online to find that out.

But I know that, for the first time in the last five years, the Minnesota Department of Health has given us opportunities to address it and get people trained. It’s probably the first time I have seen cohesive work coming together in Minnesota to address the issue, and I’m very proud of that.

What are you hearing from pregnant mothers?

Let me put it this way. First off, we know it does not matter about your economic background; what we hear is that doctors and health care workers are not listening to them. That’s why it is so important to get not only educated but also have their partners to advocate for them and be in the room with the mother to help and speak for them. So, the majority of the problem is they’re not being listened to.

As you continue to address this, do you think the health care providers are changing their practices?

There are doctors of color right now, which helps, but we cannot rely on them just because they are of color, because there is a high chance that they have been miseducated. But yes, there’s some improvement. In the next two days at the Black and Brown Birthing Summit, we have some well-educated national and local people speaking about this exact issue and focusing on the platform to educate the community and help them understand the issues they are facing.

What is the focus of this year’s Black and Brown Birthing Summit?

It’s definitely about paternal health. It’s about what’s going on in the political arena; it’s about what is going on in our community and how we can take action. It’s about Native Americans, African Americans, and other communities of color coming together and working together and learning their rights, it’s about healthy Black and brown pregnancy and healthy community.

As you look ahead, what changes are most urgent?

It’s really about the whole family, and it’s really about bringing the entire family together. Fathers are important, and we have to serve everybody to create a healthy community.  For example, we have somebody who is coming from Detroit to talk about the importance of fatherhood.

Talk to me about how fatherhood fits into this category?

Well, looking at the so-called the popular culture, we put fathers aside; they will put them separately as though they’re not important. Making them feel like they can’t be in the birthing rooms with their partners. However, it’s important that we cherish the fathers’ voice in birthing decision-making for their families. That’s why we brought an expert to talk about the importance of fatherhood.

What would you say are the biggest contributors to the different health outcomes for Black and brown pregnant women?

Racism! Institutional racism. That’s what this is. I’m not the one to say it gently because it’s a fact. Those who are living in it would tell you exactly what caused it.  It’s caused by toxic stress, poor medical care, drug use, social injustice and continuation of oppression.

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