Minute for Mission: Black Maternal/Birthing Health Week begins (April 11–17)

Care for those who brought you into the world. This feels like one of the most straightforward messages we find in Scripture. We’re all familiar with the commandment “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Yet, when it comes to Black mothers, neither the world nor the church has figured out how to honor them. Black women in the United States are 3.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. In my own hometown of Pittsburgh, a place known for its great hospitals and care, the Black maternal mortality rate is higher than the national average (and even when they make it through childbirth, Black mothers face higher rates of drug testing). Black women still hold spiritual scars from the racist legacies of America, from the commodification of their children in chattel slavery to the legacy of forced sterilization to the vilification of their identities through dog-whistle politics. This is all on top of the wage disparities, micro and macroaggressions, and toxic theology Black women face every day. Black mothers (and Black people who give birth overall) bring life forth into our world, yet they have never been truly honored.

We don’t have to continue in this legacy, though. We, as individuals and as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), can decide that Black birth and maternal care are things that matter to us. We can choose to honor Black people in their choices on whether to have children, how they will have children, and how they will care for the children they have. We can advocate for health-care policies that put Black birth at the forefront. We can offer mutual aid and support for Black pregnant people to access doulas and other maternal care. We can support Black women in their maternal care. We can support Black people of all genders as they give birth. We can do all of this and more, starting right now, for it is never a wrong time to start honoring those who bring life into the world.

Ashley DeTar Birt, a member of the Advocacy Committee for LGBTQIA+ Equity and former member of the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee                       

Let us join in prayer for:

• Deepika Karnayana, Administrative Assistant, Young Adult Volunteer Office, World Mission, Interim Unified Agency
• Kevin Keaton, Church Consultant, Houston, TX, Board of Pensions 

Let us pray:

Nurturing God, parent to us all, hold those who bring life into our world in your hands. Where race and birth intersect, let our hearts be loving and our actions be strong. Help us to care for Black women and all Black people who give birth. Let us not treat them with discrimination and disregard but with dignity, nurture and care. Help us to lift up their needs and honor them as you call us to do. Amen.