Reproductive Injustice - Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth - Grand Format

Black women have higher rates of premature birth than any other women in America. By placing racial differences in birth outcomes into a historical context, Dána-Ain Davis reveals that ideas about reproduction and race today have been influenced by the legacy of ideas that developed during the era of slavery. While low-income Black women are often the "mascots" of premature birth outcomes, this book focuses on professional Black women, who are just as likely to give birth prematurely.
Drawing on an impressive array of interviews with nearly fifty mothers, fathers, neonatologists, nurses, midwives, and reproductive justice advocates, Davis argues that events leading up to an infant's arrival in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), and the parents' experiences while their child is in the NICU, reveal examples of subtle but pernicious forms of racism that are a central factor of premature birth.
Reproductive Injustice not only argues that medical racism persists, but also that NICUs and life-saving technologies alone are not effective in improving the outcomes for pregnant Black women and their babies. Davis makes the case for other avenues of intervention, such as community-based birthing projects and doulas, which support women during pregnancy and labor, as being more effective in avoiding premature births and mortality.