Irin Carmon

putting people into contact with the kind of dehumanization in the medical system that others may experience.

Perhaps if they're Medicaid patients, they're low income, they're queer, they live in a place that's underserved by medicine, they're Black, they're undocumented.

Many people, and I count myself among these, who otherwise enjoy a lot of privileges in the system might suddenly be shocked and outraged to be treated like a child animal the moment you come into contact with the system as a pregnant person.

And I wish you a beautiful and safe journey.

And I think also one thing that I have learned is also different about pregnancy is that you may not be able to choose the medical outcomes

And I think the system puts a lot of pressure on the individual to, like, do all the research, have the perfect birth, when these are really systemic issues.

You know, there's shocking research into maternal mortality and the unforgivable gap between white women and Black women in America.

One of the factors that makes a Black woman more likely to die is the hospital that she goes to.

So if a Black woman goes to a hospital in which the majority of the patients are Black, she is likelier to have a fatal outcome in her birth.

So what is that telling us about the disinvestment in hospitals that are disproportionately serving people of color?

There's also a shocking, very, very large study out of New Jersey that shows that doctor convenience and profit...

contributes to choosing whether a patient who does not have an emergency indication has a C-section, but that those choices are made more often with black patients than white patients.

They found that when the same doctor was faced with a low-risk white patient and a low-risk black patient, and there was a room available in the hospital,

that black patient was more likely to have a C-section.

C-sections, while often lifesaving and necessary, can also lead to more maternal complications, including hemorrhage, which is one of the leading causes of maternal death.

So I think that there are so many interlocking reasons for this unforgivable gap in maternal mortality.

And they also have to do with the structural elements of healthcare, even before someone becomes pregnant, how much access they have for healthcare.

35% of American counties are characterized as maternal healthcare deserts, do not have any kind of provider of maternal healthcare.

So people are having to travel everywhere.

People are, in many cases, only getting insurance once they have a confirmed pregnancy test, but they're only qualifying for Medicaid once they have a doctor's pregnancy test.