For Star August, the birth of her first son did not go as planned. August hired an out-of-hospital midwife to guide her through the pregnancy but attended checkups in a hospital as a cost-saving measure. At one of her last checkups, the doctors told her that her amniotic fluid was low and wanted to induce labor. [Crains]

"I wasn't able to get a hold of my midwife, and I didn't know what to do," August recalls.

What happened next was a harrowing experience. After taking Pitocin, a synthetic hormone used to induce labor and speed up contractions, her son's heart rate began to drop. August was rushed to the operating room for an emergency C-section. She wasn't completely anesthetized before doctors cut into her skin, and they ignored her pleas to stop.

After awakening from a drug-induced coma, she saw her newborn son being resuscitated next to her. Once revived, the baby was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit. August couldn't experience skin-to-skin contact with her child at birth, which can decrease stress in both mother and child and help initiate breastfeeding.

August's traumatic birthing story is a familiar one, especially for Black and Brown women, who face a greater risk of trauma and death due to childbirth, compared to their white peers.

Research published earlier this month by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA, found higher maternal mortality rates in Black communities, while Native American and Alaska Native people experienced a particularly rapid rise. State median mortality rates more than tripled over the last two decades. 

Dr. Melissa Simon, MD, is a Fellow of IOMC and a member IOMC's Maternal Health and Child Workgroup. If you would like more information about this workgroup, send an email to the IOMC office at iomcstaff@iomc.org. 

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