About

Our project works to center the voices of those most affected by racial disparities in birth outcomes in an effort to bring awareness to this crisis and advocate for better treatment of black mothers and babies throughout the pregnancy period and postpartum.

As compared to all babies, black babies are more likely to have complications such as low birth weight, premature birth, and even mortality. In the United States, 5.9 babies will die out of 1,000 births (CDC National Center Health Statistics). When you stratify this statistic by race, 4.9 white babies out of 1,000 births will die, while 11.4 black babies will die (CDC National Center Health Statistics). The phenomenon continues at the state, city, and town level. In New York State, for example, 8.6 black babies will die out of 1,000 births, whereas only 3.7 white babies will die out of 1,000 births (Kaiser Family Foundation/CDC). In Albany County, a staggering 19.5 black babies will die out of 1,000 births as compared to 4.5 white babies and 2.7 Hispanic babies (NYS Department of Health). We are also seeing the same pattern with maternal mortality rates; as compared with white women, black women have four times the risk for dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, although the risk for developing maternal complications is less than twice that of white women (CDC National Center Health Statistics).