The cause of the famous sportswoman’s death has been revealed. Discovered dead in her bed in early May 2023, Tori Bowie died of eclampsia, a very serious pregnancy complication that causes seizures and high blood pressure, potentially fatal for pregnant women.
Maternal mortality among black women in the United States is on the rise
If Tori Bowie’s death is a tragedy, it also highlights the maternal mortality crisis among black women in the United States. Black women have higher death rate from pregnancy complications in 2021, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics 2.6 times higher than white women. The figures shared by the NCHS are frightening: 69.9 deaths out of 100,000 deaths were seen among racialized women, compared with 32.9 among pregnant white women.
These data are explained in particular by the precariousness in which some racialized people find themselves, which forces them to find alternatives to hospitals to give birth, due to lack of means.
In 2022, a report released by the National Partnership for Women & Families found that so-called community deliveries, which are deliveries performed at home or in community birthing centres, increased by 20% between 2019 and 2020.
The NPWF has pointed to several barriers limiting access to care in community birthplaces: few available midwives, the costs involved in setting up and operating birth centers, the near-impossible reimbursement of Medicaid – a program available to the United States to pay for health care for people with low financial resources – the absence of a license and birth center in all states …
Iffath Abbasi Hoskins, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement:
Eliminating racial inequalities in health should be a top public health priority. Black women account for a disproportionate number of these maternal deaths at alarmingly increasing rates. This is a trend that must be stopped.
Iffath Abbasi Hoskins in a press release consulted by our colleagues at BFM
While the NCHS in its chilling numbers report doesn’t officially explain the reasons for these disparities in death rates between racialized and white pregnant women, systemic racism in the U.S. healthcare system and elsewhere provides a good clue.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
