“Racial and ethnic disparities between Hispanic versus non-Hispanic White women were also significantly larger among women who conceived using [medically assisted reproduction] with regard to preterm birth (<34 weeks) and perinatal mortality,” the study also found.
“Once that pregnancy happens, the women are in the same system that has all those things that we haven’t yet fully accounted for — the systemic biases, the racism, the differences in treatments based on what type of insurance someone might have,” Sutton told NBC News.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women were 2.5 times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy or delivery complications as of April 2021, making the United States the country with the highest maternity mortality rate among developed nations.
Six hundred fifty-eight women died from maternal causes in 2018 despite studies showing that 60% of all maternal fatalities are avoidable.
Additionally, a 2020 study found that Black doctors are more likely to save the lives of Black neonates in the United States after childbirth than White doctors, who are three times more likely to lose them.
According to the study written up in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the race of the doctor had no bearing on the mortality rate for white babies.
The researchers said black babies delivered in “more complicated cases” were much more likely to survive with a Black doctor, and this was “strikingly” where the mortality rate dropped the most. Hospitals that deliver more Black newborns also saw a significant reduction in mortality rates.
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