May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention month, a time that reminds me of my teenage experiences with sex ed. At my high school, our school nurse taught our sexual education. She was a staunch Southern Baptist, God-fearing woman. She was a teen parent, who became pregnant after her first time having sex. She also contracted genital herpes, which later led to the development of cervical cancer. Our school administrators were essentially using her as a walking billboard of why we shouldn’t be having sex, in hopes that it would influence us to take the “right path in life.”
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On October 28th I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter. It was not a joyous discovery because it was followed by rejection from the baby's father, along with verbal and emotional abuse. I wrestled with major depression during my pregnancy while battling with whether I should keep my daughter or not because I feared raising my daughter by myself. But I was grateful to be surrounded by people that cared. On June 17th, 2014 I had my daughter and the road has not been easy. Her father is still not present in her life. I had to let go of the idea of him being present in her life as she approaches her second birthday this year. I grieved a lot through this especially because he is fully involved in the life of his other kids. But I had to hold myself responsible for my part as well. And this got me thinking about other sisters that maybe dealing with the same thing.
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On November 20th, those of us who support movements to save black and trans lives, remember the black trans women and men whose lives and deaths testify to the intersections of transphobia and racism. But what happens when the mourning is over? Too often black trans faces are hyper-visible when we are memorializing those we have lost, but missing at other times. And trans people are almost completely absent from birth justice and maternal health conferences, working groups and task forces. It’s time to challenge the erasure of trans folks from conversations about birth justice.
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Black Women Birthworkers were honored at the Human Rights in Childbirth U.S. Summit Birthing Justice Forum & Maternal-Child Health Champion Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles on May 26, 2016.
Black Woman Birthing Justice (BWBJ) collective members Chinyere Oparah, Linda Jones, Dantia Hudson and Sayida Peprah were a strong presence at the Human Rights in Childbirth U.S. Summit Birthing Justice Forum. We contributed powerfully in the discussions on creating a U.S. “consensus statement” to define and identify key action steps toward establish birth justice in America. Through the stories and testimonies that BWBJ has collected over the years on the Black experience of childbirth in California, we were able to bring the key birth justice elements of concern and priority for Black folks, to the table. It is always valuable that we are in the room, when conversations are happening about birth in America. Too often, we are only talked about, but not conversed with, regarding our needs.
My decision to have a natural birth came very easy. I was lucky enough to have been raised around warrior women whom although all from very different walks of life made the decision to bring forth life as naturally as possible. During my pregnancy I realized a lot of women weren't afforded that option. In a world where technology supersedes all, natural birth is considered archaic and in some cases unsafe. I learned about the medical industry and how it kept its claws deep in maternal affairs with complete disregard for the female body.
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