‘Rooted in Care’: Jackie Vaughn on Addressing the Black Maternal Health Crisis
Back for the second time this season, Jackie Vaughn, Executive Director of Surge Reproductive Justice, joined host Deaunte Damper on “We Live In Color,” bringing attention to the local urgency of Black maternal health and Surge’s upcoming film screening happening this Saturday, April 11th.
Speaking ahead of Black Maternal Health Week, which runs from April 11th through the 17th, Vaughn said that the current state of maternal care for Black families is not just a health issue, but a matter of justice.
Vaughn highlighted a staggering statistic from the recent Washington State Maternal Mortality Review Panel Report: 82% of maternal deaths in 2021 and 2022 were preventable. To Vaughn, this figure represents more than a systemic failure.
"I think about if this was anything else, that’s a crime," she said. "That’s murder. This is happening to not just mothers... it’s happening to our community.”
This crisis, Vaughn argued, is deeply rooted in the history of American medicine. Vaughn pointed to the foundations of gynecology, noting that early medical tools were tested on enslaved Black women without anesthesia because doctors at the time claimed Black people did not experience pain the same way. "That level of violence, it still exists," she said. "It's at the foundation of it.”
Central to Vaughn’s work is the framework of reproductive justice, which she described as more holistic than traditional reproductive rights. She defined it as "the right to have a child, to not have a child, and if you do decide to have a child, to raise that child in a healthy and sustainable environment.”
Under this definition, Vaughn identified issues like gun violence as direct reproductive justice concerns.
"No one should have to give birth and to have to worry constantly every day that their child grows up that they could be a victim of gun violence," she said. "That’s not the healthy and sustainable environment that we’re supposed to be dreaming of.”
Vaughn advocated for an inclusive approach that involves the entire family, particularly Black men, who she says are often sidelined or treated with suspicion in hospital settings. By educating fathers to serve as doulas and support partners, Vaughn believes the community can reclaim the birthing experience.
Surge Reproductive Justice’s upcoming Rooted in Care: Honoring the Black Maternal Health Experience at the Rainier Arts Center this Saturday, April 11, aims to celebrate this collective vision, in collaboration with My Time For Massage. The event will feature a screening of the Emmy award-winning film The Ebony Canal, along with a Q/A panel with the film’s director, Emmai Alaquiva.
For Vaughn, this movement is about moving past silence. "We come together as a whole community to say enough is enough and a good Black birth is possible,” she said.
The upcoming Rooted in Care: Honoring the Black Maternal Health Experience is happening Saturday, April 11 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Rainier Arts Center, 3515 South Alaska Street, Seattle. Reserve your spot here.
Learn more about Surge Reproductive Justice here.
Watch “We Live In Color” Thursdays at 8 p.m. on all Converge Media streaming platforms.
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