FOCUS : MATERNITY CARE

These seven entrepreneurs are ensuring Black mothers have safer pregnancies and births , with new platforms that connect them to health professionals and supportive communities .

by arnesa a . howell illustration by aaron marin

BEFORE HAVING HER FIRST CHILD , Kimberly Seals Allers did her research . She consulted parenting blogs , scoured mom-focused Listservs , and read reviews and ratings of the hospitals near her home in New York City where her doctor was affiliated . She settled on one where she felt she ’ d get excellent care , but her experience not only didn ’ t match her expectations , it left her feeling dismissed , disrespected , and disillusioned . She recalls being pressured into a C-section without explanation , nurses giving her newborn formula against her wishes , and having to fight to have her baby with her in the room . While it ’ s not uncommon for many mothers to have experiences like these , Allers was surprised at the disconnect between the reviews she had read and the reality she lived .

“ It hadn ’ t dawned on me that people were going to the same place and not being treated the same way ,” she says . “ But many of the people rating the hospitals were middle-class White women . Black women were not there .”

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