This Maternal Health Task Force article from The Harvard Chan School of Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, examines the Black American maternal mortality crisis how the intersection of racism and sexism has infiltrated every aspect of our society, from health care policy at the macro level to the implicit biases harbored among health care providers at the micro level.

The following non-exhaustive list outlines a few of the factors that have contributed to this crisis:

• Hospitals that predominantly serve Black women tend to be under-resourced and therefore lower quality than those with a more racially diverse or a whiter patient population. According to an analysis from ProPublica, women who experience hemorrhage at hospitals predominantly serving Black patients face a higher risk of severe complications than those who receive care at hospitals with more White clientele.
• Structural inequities in health coverage access mean that today, about 5 percent of Black clients are uninsured compared to 7.5 percent of White women, impacting their access to services.
• Black women are much more likely to receive no prenatal care, or to receive it later than the first trimester, than women of any race besides American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian. Access to adequate prenatal care has demonstrable health benefits to both the mother and baby.
• Black women are more likely to suffer from hypertension and pre-eclampsia, which increase the chances of adverse health outcomes for mothers and babies.