The Dark History of Racism in U.S. Maternal Healthcare

I find myself deeply troubled every time I think about the legacy of racism in maternal healthcare in this country. This isn't just some academic issue—we're talking about Black and Indigenous women dying at rates that should genuinely concern us all. How is this still happening in 2025?

The roots of this problem go back to slavery, and I can't emphasize this enough: American gynecology was built on the practice of violating bodies of Black women. Dr. J. Marion Sims—who medical textbooks still celebrate—performed experimental surgeries on enslaved women without anesthesia. He justified this by promoting the racist notion that Black women didn't feel pain like white women did. This isn't ancient history; it's the foundation that modern obstetrics was built upon.

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