April 8, 2025 • 35 mins
April 11th- 17th officially marks Black Maternal Health Week—a week-long campaign centered on activism, awareness, and community-building for Black mamas and Black birthing people. Elizabeth Dawes, Director of Maternal and Reproductive Health and Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation and Co-Founder of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, sits down to talk with us about the status of the Black maternal health crisis in the U.S. and the myriad, ongoing attacks to the Black community’s health, rights, and wellbeing from the new administration.
The U.S. maternal mortality crisis has seen an overall reduction in maternal death rates in every racial group except for Black birthing people-- due to racism and inequity at institutional, systemic, and interpersonal levels. This is despite continuous, targeted, and hard-fought advocacy since 2014. Solidifying key actors, distributing resources and funding, and amplifying direct, local care and Black-led initiatives can make a sizeable change and help tackle the persistent, systemic oppressions and health injustices disproportionately felt by Black individuals.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Re Pros , fight Back a podcast on all
things related to sexual andreproductive health rights and
justice. Hey, re pros . How'severybody doing? I'm your host
Jenny Wetter , and my pronounsare she her. So y'all , I was
recently doing some purging. Imean, I've just decided I ,
(00:23):
I've accumulated too manythings that I just, I need to
clean out a bunch of storageplaces and why am I holding
onto these things? And I just,it , it , it's having to
happen. So I'm trying to not bemy usual chaotic self when I do
it and just like, dumpeverything out and like do it
all at once and then it feelsoverwhelming and it doesn't
(00:46):
happen. So I was trying to dolike small, like every day , do
one small thing to, to justkind of go through everything
and, and just get rid of all ofthese things I don't need.
Anyway, I was going through astorage box and I ran across a
bunch of things I ordered fromLiberal Jane and hadn't used,
(01:07):
and it was so exciting. Um, Ithink it was like two pieces of
artwork and then like a ton ofstickers. I, I love having the
stickers that, that liberalJane designs. Uh, they decorate
all my notebooks and, andthings. And so I was so excited
to find y'all. Seriously. Itwas like 20 stickers. I don't,
(01:28):
I don't know why they were inthis box instead of where I
keep all of the other ones thatI have saved up to use, but it
was delightful to find them. SoI am enjoying this purging and
trying to get rid of all of thethings. Uh, but it's still just
like so much stuff. Why, why doI hold onto it ? It is so
(01:51):
unnecessary. Uh , so it , it ,it's feeling good like freeing
to get rid of it all. But it isstill a process. It's gonna be
an ongoing process to get ridof it. I wanna go through like
my clothes and just all thethings. So it's, I'm trying ,
(02:11):
like I said, trying to not becat . I can do it all at once,
just trying to do it in smallbites. So I'm excited to get
rid of a bunch of stuff. Sothat's, that's what I've been
up to lately is really justlike going through all the
things and all of the littlefun things you find. Like all
of these cards I've set asidethat friends have sent me, that
(02:31):
I've held onto for forever, I'mtrying to like whittle those
down and not save all of them.
But I , I don't know , for somereason I have a really hard
time letting go of those likesweet cards your friends send
you with like specialhandwritten notes in 'em .
'cause they all evoke like aspecial memory. So I , I have a
hard time letting those onesgo, but I'm trying to maybe
(02:54):
just get rid of some of theones that are like a funny card
with a signature that I don'tneed to save. Right? I, I ,
what can I say? I just, I holdonto things for sentimental
reasons that I really don'tneed to and I need to be better
about it. So that is, that's mygoal right now is just to get
rid of the things. I don't needthe clothes, I don't wear the
(03:18):
shoes I don't wear. I just, Ineed to get rid of some things
and just do major housekeeping.
That , that's all. No big deal,right? Just go through all my
stuff. Yeah. Anyhow , that'swhat's new and exciting with
me. Um, I'm really excited forthis week's episode. Coming up
later this week kicks off BlackMaternal Health Week. So I was
(03:40):
very excited to have onElizabeth Dawes at the Century
Foundation to talk about blackmaternal health and Black
Maternal Health Week and whaty'all can do to get involved.
Um, so definitely also makesure to check out our show
notes because we will have alink to all of the things that
are happening during BlackMaternal Health Week. So you
can find if there's like awebinar you want to attend or
(04:02):
ways to engage on social , um,ways that you can get involved.
So make sure to check out ourshow notes so that you can find
all of those, take actionthings and get involved this
Black Maternal Health Week.
Okay. With that, let's go to myinterview with Elizabeth. Hi
Elizabeth. Thank you so muchfor being here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I am so excited to talk to you , uh, this black
Maternal health Week abouteverything that's going on. But
I thought maybe we should startreal quick with would you like
to introduce yourself andinclude your pronouns?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Awesome. I'm Elizabeth Dawes . I use she,
her pronouns. I'm based inWashington DC and I'm director
of Maternal and Reproductivehealth at the Century
Foundation.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm so excited to have you on. I feel like there
has been so much going on thatis impacting black maternal
health. So it feels like areally good time to have like a
check-in on where are we atcurrently? Like what, we know
there's a maternal mortalitycrisis, but is it getting
better? Is it getting worse?
Like what is happening?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's really interesting what's
happening, and I can, I canshare with you what's happening
now, but guaranteed that'sgonna change in the future
given our political context. Soright now we've seen an overall
reduction in the numbers ofmaternal deaths in particular.
Rates have declined for everyother racial group except black
(05:27):
women. We have to ask ourselveshow did that happen? Right. Um,
we've been doing advocacy onblack maternal health since at
least 2014. Um, so it's beenover a decade and a lot of
people have spent a lot of timeand energy and money in
improving black maternal healthoutcomes. And we're not seeing
(05:52):
that across the board. We'renot seeing it in the ways that
we want to. So something ishappening where black birthing
people are not benefiting thesame way that other groups are
from changes that havehappened. It's, I, you know, I
have a , a lot of , um, ideasabout why that is. You know,
the first thing that comes tomind is racism, inequity at
(06:16):
institutional levels, atsystemic levels, and certainly
at the interpersonal level. Sothere's still quite a bit of
work to be done, but I think wecan be hopeful because we have
seen some reductions, right?
For if we can reduce , um,maternal mortality in other
(06:36):
groups, then we can certainlyreduce maternal mortality for
black birthing people.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I have found hope in the, this steady drumbeat of
attention being drawn to blackmaternal health. Mm-hmm
. Like you havereally felt it grow over that
decade. Where it is getting,has been getting more and more
attention. It's tragic andfrustrating and all the things
that we haven't seen that kind, the kind of movement that we
(07:04):
have seen in other groups. Butthere is still hope in that
the, the conversation isgetting louder, louder , and
hopefully people are gonnastart making those changes that
are systemic and big and, andwill help make this movement
actually happen.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I I think one of the things that happens in ,
uh, movement building andgetting the broad level change
that we actually need is peoplehave to wake up and realize
what's happening. And there arekey points in history where
(07:42):
that happens, where things getreally difficult and people can
see how it affects theirfamily, their community, how it
affects themselves, and then weget the attention that we need,
the engagement that we need. Sofor example, 2014, when I
co-founded Black Mamas MatterAlliance, that was at the same
(08:06):
time or shortly after the BlackLives Matter movement had built
momentum, and we were seeing,you know, chronic mistreatment,
targeting, policing of, ofblack people overall and, you
know, untimely deaths of blackpeople overall. And so that
(08:27):
kind of national conversationhelped spark this conversation
on black maternal health. Ithink we're seeing the same
thing now. This is anotherpoint in history where there's
a critical moment where we havea really conservative
administration thatintentionally seeks to harm
(08:48):
certain communities, and peoplewill feel that. They will see
that they've already seen it.
You know, I've heard, heardfirsthand stories of people
witnessing ice raids, andthat's just, that's just one of
the , you know, that'sjust, I know people who have
have friends in the governmentwho lost their jobs. So it's
getting close to home. It'svery close to home. I of course
(09:10):
know people who are working inabortion advocacy, who are
seeing cuts and protests andattacks and all kinds of things
that didn't directly affecttheir work as well as the
people they care for. So it'sgonna get so bad that it then
has to get better. It we're,we're at that point .
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah. One of the things I've been thinking about
is one of the big things thatthe previous administration did
was expanding Medicaid formaternal healthcare , for what
, one year postpartum andmm-hmm . That,
that's huge. But now we'retalking about possible huge
cuts to the Medicaid program,and that is just gonna be
(09:54):
devastating if that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It is, it is.
There's going to be a lot of, alot of devastation if they
continue to do what , um, wesee them doing and what they
say they're going to do. Right.
Project 2025 is scary, but assomeone mentioned to me, they
said, well , they've laid itall out for you, so you know,
how, how are we gonna fightthat? We know what they want to
do, we know what they're tryingto do, what they are doing,
(10:18):
. So at least we havethat kind of information to
then combat it. So there,there's a lot of devastation,
but there is also a lot thatcan be done to correct things.
If we know what the problem is,we we have a better chance of
correcting it. And I improving, um, people's lives. So I'm,
(10:42):
I'm hopeful in that regard,that there are key places where
people can make decisions, cantake action, can make changes,
can do things differently toimprove access to healthcare ,
access to resources that blackpeople need to stay healthy and
(11:06):
that black birthing people needand want to have healthy
pregnancies and their ideallabor and delivery experience,
as well as the postpartum careand support they need. So one
of the things I want to getmore into in my advocacy is
helping people see andunderstand that there are
(11:28):
decision makers at key points,and that one person can change
the lives of thousands,hundreds of thousands, millions
with one action. And we've seenthat. We're seeing it now. One
person can either cause massivedestruction and one person can
(11:48):
also cause a lot of positivechange. So I would love for
more people to think about howthem as individuals and their
positions, whatever that maybe, one decision, you know, at,
at a moment where you either goleft or right and that decision
can make, you know, it can makethe difference for, for
(12:11):
somebody , um, for a wholecommunity, for a whole family,
and for society, you know, atlarge.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, I think there's like many ways this
feels like such a big problemthat it's hard to tackle and
seeing that, you know, you talkabout other , uh, maternal
mortality rates coming down,but for black people it's
staying the same so people canstart to feel disempowered and
a little hopeless in how totake action. So what do you see
(12:40):
as like, what , what do we needto do? So like finding key
actors that is so important.
What else are you thinkingabout?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I'm thinking about how resources are distributed,
how funding either does or doesnot make it to community-based
organizations that are leadingthe work, that are providing
direct service, that areensuring that their clients
have holistic, comprehensivecare. Again, this is
historically and still the casethat , um, a lot of black led
(13:13):
organizations are underfunded,under-resourced and trying to
do a lot with a little. And Ialways wonder how much more
could we do with ampleresources? I think maybe that's
why we've seen these reductionsin certain racial groups and
(13:34):
not in others. Those groups,when you think about it, have
the res have resources, theyhave more access to, to
resources. They have whiteprivilege or being adjacent to
whiteness, that is a privilegefor them. And they basically
got the roadmap right, fromblack maternal health
advocates, here's what you needto do. And so they're doing it
(13:56):
for themselves with theresources that they've been
privileged enough to have. Sofor me, it's really about
redistribution of finances. Atthe end of the day, we need to
pour more money into black ledefforts and initiatives that
are actually supporting blackpeople because then they can
(14:18):
scale, then they can reach morepeople, they can have a greater
impact, they can do moreadvocacy. They , um, have more
power to leverage at certain ,you know, in certain rooms, at
certain seats at the table andcan create that change that
we're all looking for. I think
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Another like really important thing is making sure
you're listening to the peopleon the ground for what they
need and what they want to makesure the investments are going
into the services that they,they think and know will
benefit their community.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah. The grassroots organizations, community-based
, um, organizations andinitiatives, they're, like you
said, they're listening totheir community. They know what
works. They have the livedexperience, they have those
one-on-one interactions thatclose touch that , um, a lot of
policy makers , or let's sayhospital directors or other
(15:18):
types of folks are , are at adistance and they don't
experience that. They don't seehow people are affected hearing
numbers and seeing things andunderstanding people's lives.
Those are all different things,. So I think what we
have right now is a lot ofpeople are hearing numbers and
(15:43):
they're not connecting to that.
They don't see the peoplebehind those numbers. They
don't see the experience thatinequity causes. They don't see
exactly how they gettreated versus how, you know ,
um, a black woman in a , onMedicaid might get treated. And
(16:04):
we have stories, we have enoughstories that show that a black
woman on Medicaid is gonna betreated differently than a
white woman who has a milliondollars or more. Yeah. You
know, a million these days isnot actually a lot, you know,
like there are billions ofdollars. Um, and we see that
with the hoarding at the, thehighest levels of, of
(16:25):
government and, and wealth thatpeople hoard resources , uh,
for some strange reason. Butultimately, again, people play
into those dynamics and theyvalue those people more than
others for some reason. So Ithink again, there's, there are
key points where those thingscan change.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I, so I recently did an episode talking about
Medicaid and the proposed cutsto Medicaid and had very
similar conversation of, likeyou hear, they're talking about
cutting $800 billion and notunderstanding what that means
in terms of people on theground who are gonna lose
access to services, hospitalsthat are gonna close that then
(17:08):
people will not have access to.
It's so easy to get caught upin just the number and forget
the person behind that and theperson whose life is impacted
behind all of these things. Andstorytelling and , and getting
people's stories out is such a, an important part of that.
But it is always just soimportant to keep the people
(17:29):
front and center
Speaker 2 (17:30):
For sure. And once you hear those stories to then,
you know, go and do somethingabout it. Don't Yeah . Forget
about it. Like, oh, that's sosad. And then move on to the
next thing. Yes. There's a lotof distracting news these days,
so people are putting out firesin , in every direction.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah. And like even forgetting that some of , of ,
so many of these stories arelinked, right? Like thinking
about people, black maternalhealth doesn't just start and
stop with labor and delivery,right? We're talking about the
Medicaid cuts are gonna impactthem because health beyond
maternal health is important inthis conversation. Access to
(18:09):
abortion care or familyplanning services or just
having on the ground support.
Like all of these factors areinterrelated, but talked about
so often in silos.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Hmm . Yeah, definitely. One of the things I
actually, this is one of theways that my career started was
with a focus on socialdeterminants of health. You
know, people are moving on tostructural determinants of
health, but essentially avariety of factors influence
health and wellbeing. Andstress is a huge influence on
(18:49):
health and can set you up forfailure if you're stressed out,
if you're worried about yourjob, if you don't have a job,
if you're unemployed, if youdon't have access to
transportation to get around orchildcare if you don't have
access to healthy food. So I'mthinking about people that use
(19:11):
WIC and SNAP and , um, rely onthat kind of public assistance
to eat and to feed theirfamilies. And you have a
government that's saying, we'regonna cut all that ,
we're gonna take away yourright to food, your right to
housing, to jobs. You don't,your job is insecure at this
(19:33):
point. We can only, you know,you can only imagine what kind
of effect that has on mentalhealth on the body. We know the
mind and body are connected.
They're one, we are not, you know, we're, we're one
person, a whole person. Andwhen you start to attack any
(19:53):
aspect of that person, you putthat whole person at risk and
it shows up. It starts toappear, you know, in heart
disease, in obesity, in mentalhealth crises , which we don't
talk about enough either , uh,as a , uh, community, as a
country, we have a lot ofstrides to make in that area.
(20:16):
But what I , my point here is Iwant people to understand that
yeah, it's not just healthcare.
Um, it's not just healthinsurance, those things, that's
just the end of the line,right? That's where everything
falls apart. It's like you'vebuilt a house on a shaky
foundation, Medicaid cuts orthe, the heavy wind that comes
through and blows everythingdown. And I, I question, you
(20:42):
know, how people will be ableto survive that.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it is definitely something that has
been on my mind a lot. I'm fromsouthern Wisconsin and I know
the local public hospital whereI live is one of the very few
in southern Wisconsin, NorthernIllinois. And hearing what the
Medicaid cuts could do andclose that hospital, like,
where are these people gonnago? And stories like that are
(21:07):
gonna be repeated across thecountry. And there's just so
much, like I said, kind of thisdevastation all around. But
again, trying to find hope inall of the things where we are
seeing other maternal healthnumbers coming down, like we
know it can be done. We justneed to find ways to make it
happen. To bring the blackmaternal health numbers down as
(21:28):
well.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
No, it was, no, it's a , it's a good point. Where
are those people gonna go forcare? Um, is a good question.
And the initial, my initialsort of internal reaction was,
okay, we need morecommunity-based efforts. We
need more homegrown efforts.
(21:51):
But at the same time, you thenrun into this the same
resourcing question. I'm also abusiness owner and I, that has
really taught me how much of adifference money makes and
resourcing makes. And if youdon't have the capital in a
capitalist society, which we'renot changing that anytime soon,
(22:14):
it's hard . It's very hard todo what you want to do and what
you need to do for yourcommunity if you don't have the
money to do it. So I'm like,yeah, there are any number of
things that could be done.
There are any number of thingsthat could be done. What's
missing is the will and thedesire and the compassion to
(22:37):
invest in the health andwellbeing of people. It's
absurd to me. it'sabsurd to me that, that
Speaker 1 (22:45):
This is the conversation we're having.
Yeah. Like that .
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, there's no, I don't, I don't know, I don't
wanna say that, but that's, itis there's no way to address
these issues without funding.
And government has beenresponsible and should be
(23:11):
responsible for fundingservices for its people. That's
why we have government, that'swhy we pay taxes. That's why we
elect them into office is tomake choices that benefit
people. And when you have agovernment that the leadership
is only making choices tobenefit themselves, their
(23:33):
pockets and the corporationsthat they're tied to, there's,
there's nothing to be done. We,we need a new government.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I know. It just feels so heavy right now.
,
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I don't know if I can say that. Oh ,
Speaker 1 (23:47):
All of it just feels so heavy.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
We need leaders who are committed to doing what's
in the best interest of thepeople. I won't even call it
the right thing, you know?
'cause right and wrong, you getinto morals and values. Yeah.
But there are clear things thatdata and evidence show and that
we can see with our own eyesthat help, there are clear
(24:11):
things that harm. And so again,going back to that point of
making a decision, is thisdecision gonna help or harm
somebody? If we can help ablack birthing person that's
the right decision to make, orthat's a good decision to make,
if we're going to end upharming a black person or a bl
a black family, that's thewrong decision to make. That's
(24:33):
not a , that's not the bestchoice at the time. I think
what we have is people who aresaying they're seeing the best
decision as the one that worksfor white privilege and for
their economic benefit
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Or staying in office
Speaker 2 (24:51):
At the expense of everyone else. I , so I've had
this just random, randomthoughts. Um, I've had this
thing , I'm like, what do theywant? What does staying in
office benefit you? You've gotbillions of dollars
Speaker 1 (25:04):
If you're not using your power for good. Like, what
are we doing?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Why are you there?
Just go enjoy your life withyour billions of dollars. Go
enjoy your life. Nobody askedyou , uh, I watched , uh, movie
recently, a documentary on thereligious right. That's a whole
nother conversation to getinto. And you know how they
bought into Trump as , um, theone who was gonna get their
(25:31):
agenda done for them. And we'reseeing that right now. But
again, I I question to whatend?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Ugh . Again, it's like the , everything
is so dark and heavy at themoment. Ugh . Okay. Let's think
through , okay, it's BlackMaternal Health Week. Yeah.
What, what can the audience do?
What actions should theaudience think about taking
this week to make a difference?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I think individuals can do quite a few things. They
can , um, certainly educatethemselves on the topic,
participate in the blackMaternal Health Week events and
webinars and gatherings , um,that a lot of organizations,
advocacy organizations areputting on . Those are great
ways to learn more about thesetopics, learn more about how
(26:19):
they can help and also offersupport to these organizations.
So make a donation that'shelpful , um, for sure. But
also get involved, you know,donations work, but you also
need to know why you'redonating, what you're donating
to. You need to, you know, seehow the money's being used to
really believe in it. And Ithink when you connect with
(26:42):
these groups as a volunteer orjust showing up when they ask,
you know, going to march withthem, if they're doing that,
then you can see, hey, this isactually really important work.
Um, these are people that wantthe best for their community
and so I'm gonna do what I canto support them. So that's,
that's one thing. I thinkanother thing that people can
(27:05):
do is have conversations withpeople in their lives that
don't necessarily know thatthis kind of thing is
happening. I know a lot ofpeople are poli politically
unaware, right? We're, we arehere, we know what's happening,
we're having theseconversations, we live and
breathe this work. You'd besurprised how many people just
choose to ignore it, choose notto engage with it. So I think
(27:29):
we need some politicalactivation and awareness
amongst the broader Americansociety. Again, people are
gonna see how it's gonna affectthem and that's when they'll
pay attention. But we don'twant them to have to experience
really negative consequences tothen take action. So I think
there are criticalconversations that individuals
(27:50):
can have with their families,with their friends. I've had
conversations about maternalhealth at brunch, you know,
with the sorority sisters. Sothere are any number of places
where these things might comeup or you can bring them up.
It's like, Hey, did you hearthat this is happening? Like ,
(28:10):
um, sparking dialogue canactually , um, do quite a bit.
And I would say post BlackMaternal Health Week, don't
just go back to, you know,whatever you
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Would , it doesn't end there, right?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yes. So yeah, black Maternal Health Week does not
end on April 17th. The sameenergy we have during that week
is the same energy we need tohave throughout the entire
year. It's the same energy weneed to bring to the voting
booth when it's time to reelector , uh, make another choice
(28:43):
about who gets to take office,who gets to represent us , um,
who we think is gonna work forour best interest. So yeah,
don't stop there. So that's,we've got education
conversation, donating andvoting accordingly. And I guess
the fifth thing would be at anypoint in time where you are,
(29:07):
again, going left or right,asking yourself how is this
going to help? Or how is thisgoing to harm and choosing
accordingly.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
And then I'll just give my usual flag. I always
give, when we talk aboutdonating, if you are able, it
makes a huge difference if youcan be a monthly donor. Um ,
because then those groups knowthat they can consistently
count on that money as they'rebudgeting and making their
plans versus a one-off. Andthat's not saying if you were
gonna do like a hundred dollarsdonation, you need , you'd be
like a hundred dollars a monthdonor, but like $10 a month, $5
(29:41):
a month, they know they'regetting that every month and it
can really make a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah. And I think people also don't realize, like
even the small amounts, right?
They're also able to go totheir funders and say, you
know, they count as a person.
Yeah . It's not necessarilythat it's a dollar or $5, it's
like, hey, one more personbelieves in us. 10 more people
believe in this work andthey're giving. So that's some
, that's another way that thefunding helps is by this group
(30:07):
being able to show these, thisnumber of people cares about
our work and, and they're in itwith us.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here. I had
so much fun talking to you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you so much for having me. It was , um, a
good conversation and you know,these are tough times, but I
think we will get through itwith very dedicated, smart,
resilient action and withbuilding power amongst
ourselves and our communitiesand bringing , um, whoever we
(30:40):
can along.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah. And I just have to say like, it is dark
and, but I couldn't do thiswork if I didn't actually have
hope or believe we couldn'twin, right? Like, so it may
feel really dark right now, andyes, there devastating things
are gonna happen, but I firmlybelieve we will get to that
better place where people haveaccess to the healthcare they
(31:03):
need. The black maternalmortality rate is comes
crashing down. We will havereproductive autonomy. We'll
have all these things. Icouldn't do my job if I didn't
actually believe that.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And guess what, now is the time to step up more
than ever. That's somethingI've been reminding myself that
now's the time for me to deepenmy advocacy, for me to deepen
my work, for me to dig into theancestral power that I
have, knowing that , um,generations before me went
(31:33):
through a lot worse. And , um,were able to find their own way
to thrive and to make progressfor us. So I can be here today
on a pod, you know, on apodcast at the Century
Foundation. Yeah. Walking onthe hill talking to
congressional members, right?
(31:54):
That's a place of power andthat's an opportunity that I
have to do, do the right thing.
So now's the time to step up,whatever in whatever way you
can.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Oh , thanks Elizabeth. Okay, y'all, I hope
you enjoyed my conversationwith Elizabeth. Like I said,
things are feeling a littleheavy right now. There's a lot
going on and a lot that we areworrying about that is gonna
impact black maternal health,but there is hope. We know what
needs to be done and we willkeep fighting. And yeah, it was
(32:25):
a good conversation. Takeaction in the myriad of ways.
Elizabeth suggested. Definitelycheck out the Black Maternal
Health Week website so that youcan find and participate in all
of the activities that arehappening this week. And I will
see everybody next week. If youhave any questions, comments,
or topics you would like us tocover, always feel free to
shoot me an email. You canreach me at jenny jn n
(32:51):
ie@reprofightback.com , or youcan find us on social media.
We're at Repro Fight back onFacebook and Twitter or re Pros
FB on Instagram. If you loveour podcast and wanna make sure
more people find it, take thetime to rate and review us on
your favorite podcast platform.
Or if you wanna make sure tosupport the podcast, you can
also donate on our website atre pros fight back.com . Thanks
(33:13):
all.
Welcome to Re Pros , fight Back a podcast on all
things related to sexual andreproductive health rights and
justice. Hey, re pros . How'severybody doing? I'm your host
Jenny Wetter , and my pronounsare she her. So y'all , I was
recently doing some purging. Imean, I've just decided I ,
(00:23):
I've accumulated too manythings that I just, I need to
clean out a bunch of storageplaces and why am I holding
onto these things? And I just,it , it , it's having to
happen. So I'm trying to not bemy usual chaotic self when I do
it and just like, dumpeverything out and like do it
all at once and then it feelsoverwhelming and it doesn't
(00:46):
happen. So I was trying to dolike small, like every day , do
one small thing to, to justkind of go through everything
and, and just get rid of all ofthese things I don't need.
Anyway, I was going through astorage box and I ran across a
bunch of things I ordered fromLiberal Jane and hadn't used,
(01:07):
and it was so exciting. Um, Ithink it was like two pieces of
artwork and then like a ton ofstickers. I, I love having the
stickers that, that liberalJane designs. Uh, they decorate
all my notebooks and, andthings. And so I was so excited
to find y'all. Seriously. Itwas like 20 stickers. I don't,
(01:28):
I don't know why they were inthis box instead of where I
keep all of the other ones thatI have saved up to use, but it
was delightful to find them. SoI am enjoying this purging and
trying to get rid of all of thethings. Uh, but it's still just
like so much stuff. Why, why doI hold onto it ? It is so
(01:51):
unnecessary. Uh , so it , it ,it's feeling good like freeing
to get rid of it all. But it isstill a process. It's gonna be
an ongoing process to get ridof it. I wanna go through like
my clothes and just all thethings. So it's, I'm trying ,
(02:11):
like I said, trying to not becat . I can do it all at once,
just trying to do it in smallbites. So I'm excited to get
rid of a bunch of stuff. Sothat's, that's what I've been
up to lately is really justlike going through all the
things and all of the littlefun things you find. Like all
of these cards I've set asidethat friends have sent me, that
(02:31):
I've held onto for forever, I'mtrying to like whittle those
down and not save all of them.
But I , I don't know , for somereason I have a really hard
time letting go of those likesweet cards your friends send
you with like specialhandwritten notes in 'em .
'cause they all evoke like aspecial memory. So I , I have a
hard time letting those onesgo, but I'm trying to maybe
(02:54):
just get rid of some of theones that are like a funny card
with a signature that I don'tneed to save. Right? I, I ,
what can I say? I just, I holdonto things for sentimental
reasons that I really don'tneed to and I need to be better
about it. So that is, that's mygoal right now is just to get
rid of the things. I don't needthe clothes, I don't wear the
(03:18):
shoes I don't wear. I just, Ineed to get rid of some things
and just do major housekeeping.
That , that's all. No big deal,right? Just go through all my
stuff. Yeah. Anyhow , that'swhat's new and exciting with
me. Um, I'm really excited forthis week's episode. Coming up
later this week kicks off BlackMaternal Health Week. So I was
(03:40):
very excited to have onElizabeth Dawes at the Century
Foundation to talk about blackmaternal health and Black
Maternal Health Week and whaty'all can do to get involved.
Um, so definitely also makesure to check out our show
notes because we will have alink to all of the things that
are happening during BlackMaternal Health Week. So you
can find if there's like awebinar you want to attend or
(04:02):
ways to engage on social , um,ways that you can get involved.
So make sure to check out ourshow notes so that you can find
all of those, take actionthings and get involved this
Black Maternal Health Week.
Okay. With that, let's go to myinterview with Elizabeth. Hi
Elizabeth. Thank you so muchfor being here.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
I am so excited to talk to you , uh, this black
Maternal health Week abouteverything that's going on. But
I thought maybe we should startreal quick with would you like
to introduce yourself andinclude your pronouns?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Awesome. I'm Elizabeth Dawes . I use she,
her pronouns. I'm based inWashington DC and I'm director
of Maternal and Reproductivehealth at the Century
Foundation.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm so excited to have you on. I feel like there
has been so much going on thatis impacting black maternal
health. So it feels like areally good time to have like a
check-in on where are we atcurrently? Like what, we know
there's a maternal mortalitycrisis, but is it getting
better? Is it getting worse?
Like what is happening?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's really interesting
happening, and I can, I canshare with you what's happening
now, but guaranteed that'sgonna change in the future
given our political context. Soright now we've seen an overall
reduction in the numbers ofmaternal deaths in particular.
Rates have declined for everyother racial group except black
(05:27):
women. We have to ask ourselveshow did that happen? Right. Um,
we've been doing advocacy onblack maternal health since at
least 2014. Um, so it's beenover a decade and a lot of
people have spent a lot of timeand energy and money in
improving black maternal healthoutcomes. And we're not seeing
(05:52):
that across the board. We'renot seeing it in the ways that
we want to. So something ishappening where black birthing
people are not benefiting thesame way that other groups are
from changes that havehappened. It's, I, you know, I
have a , a lot of , um, ideasabout why that is. You know,
the first thing that comes tomind is racism, inequity at
(06:16):
institutional levels, atsystemic levels, and certainly
at the interpersonal level. Sothere's still quite a bit of
work to be done, but I think wecan be hopeful because we have
seen some reductions, right?
For if we can reduce , um,maternal mortality in other
(06:36):
groups, then we can certainlyreduce maternal mortality for
black birthing people.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I have found hope in the, this steady drumbeat of
attention being drawn to blackmaternal health. Mm-hmm
decade. Where it is getting,has been getting more and more
attention. It's tragic andfrustrating and all the things
that we haven't seen that kind, the kind of movement that we
(07:04):
have seen in other groups. Butthere is still hope in that
the, the conversation isgetting louder, louder , and
hopefully people are gonnastart making those changes that
are systemic and big and, andwill help make this movement
actually happen.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I I think one of the things that happens in ,
uh, movement building andgetting the broad level change
that we actually need is peoplehave to wake up and realize
what's happening. And there arekey points in history where
(07:42):
that happens, where things getreally difficult and people can
see how it affects theirfamily, their community, how it
affects themselves, and then weget the attention that we need,
the engagement that we need. Sofor example, 2014, when I
co-founded Black Mamas MatterAlliance, that was at the same
(08:06):
time or shortly after the BlackLives Matter movement had built
momentum, and we were seeing,you know, chronic mistreatment,
targeting, policing of, ofblack people overall and, you
know, untimely deaths of blackpeople overall. And so that
(08:27):
kind of national conversationhelped spark this conversation
on black maternal health. Ithink we're seeing the same
thing now. This is anotherpoint in history where there's
a critical moment where we havea really conservative
administration thatintentionally seeks to harm
(08:48):
certain communities, and peoplewill feel that. They will see
that they've already seen it.
You know, I've heard, heardfirsthand stories of people
witnessing ice raids, andthat's just, that's just one of
the
have friends in the governmentwho lost their jobs. So it's
getting close to home. It'svery close to home. I of course
(09:10):
know people who are working inabortion advocacy, who are
seeing cuts and protests andattacks and all kinds of things
that didn't directly affecttheir work as well as the
people they care for. So it'sgonna get so bad that it then
has to get better. It we're,we're at that point
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah. One of the things I've been thinking about
is one of the big things thatthe previous administration did
was expanding Medicaid formaternal healthcare , for what
, one year postpartum andmm-hmm
that's huge. But now we'retalking about possible huge
cuts to the Medicaid program,and that is just gonna be
(09:54):
devastating if that happens.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
It is, it is.
There's going to be a lot of, alot of devastation if they
continue to do what , um, wesee them doing and what they
say they're going to do. Right.
Project 2025 is scary, but assomeone mentioned to me, they
said, well , they've laid itall out for you, so you know,
how, how are we gonna fightthat? We know what they want to
do, we know what they're tryingto do, what they are doing,
(10:18):
then combat it. So there,there's a lot of devastation,
but there is also a lot thatcan be done to correct things.
If we know what the problem is,we we have a better chance of
correcting it. And I improving, um, people's lives. So I'm,
(10:42):
I'm hopeful in that regard,that there are key places where
people can make decisions, cantake action, can make changes,
can do things differently toimprove access to healthcare ,
access to resources that blackpeople need to stay healthy and
(11:06):
that black birthing people needand want to have healthy
pregnancies and their ideallabor and delivery experience,
as well as the postpartum careand support they need. So one
of the things I want to getmore into in my advocacy is
helping people see andunderstand that there are
(11:28):
decision makers at key points,and that one person can change
the lives of thousands,hundreds of thousands, millions
with one action. And we've seenthat. We're seeing it now. One
person can either cause massivedestruction and one person can
(11:48):
also cause a lot of positivechange. So I would love for
more people to think about howthem as individuals and their
positions, whatever that maybe, one decision, you know, at,
at a moment where you either goleft or right and that decision
can make, you know, it can makethe difference for, for
(12:11):
somebody , um, for a wholecommunity, for a whole family,
and for society, you know, atlarge.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, I think there's like many ways this
feels like such a big problemthat it's hard to tackle and
seeing that, you know, you talkabout other , uh, maternal
mortality rates coming down,but for black people it's
staying the same so people canstart to feel disempowered and
a little hopeless in how totake action. So what do you see
(12:40):
as like, what , what do we needto do? So like finding key
actors that is so important.
What else are you thinkingabout?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I'm thinking about how resources are distributed,
how funding either does or doesnot make it to community-based
organizations that are leadingthe work, that are providing
direct service, that areensuring that their clients
have holistic, comprehensivecare. Again, this is
historically and still the casethat , um, a lot of black led
(13:13):
organizations are underfunded,under-resourced and trying to
do a lot with a little. And Ialways wonder how much more
could we do with ampleresources? I think maybe that's
why we've seen these reductionsin certain racial groups and
(13:34):
not in others. Those groups,when you think about it, have
the res have resources, theyhave more access to, to
resources. They have whiteprivilege or being adjacent to
whiteness, that is a privilegefor them. And they basically
got the roadmap right, fromblack maternal health
advocates, here's what you needto do. And so they're doing it
(13:56):
for themselves with theresources that they've been
privileged enough to have. Sofor me, it's really about
redistribution of finances. Atthe end of the day, we need to
pour more money into black ledefforts and initiatives that
are actually supporting blackpeople because then they can
(14:18):
scale, then they can reach morepeople, they can have a greater
impact, they can do moreadvocacy. They , um, have more
power to leverage at certain ,you know, in certain rooms, at
certain seats at the table andcan create that change that
we're all looking for. I think
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Another like really important thing is making sure
you're listening to the peopleon the ground for what they
need and what they want to makesure the investments are going
into the services that they,they think and know will
benefit their community.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah. The grassroots organizations, community-based
, um, organizations andinitiatives, they're, like you
said, they're listening totheir community. They know what
works. They have the livedexperience, they have those
one-on-one interactions thatclose touch that , um, a lot of
policy makers , or let's sayhospital directors or other
(15:18):
types of folks are , are at adistance and they don't
experience that. They don't seehow people are affected hearing
numbers and seeing things andunderstanding people's lives.
Those are all different things,
have right now is a lot ofpeople are hearing numbers and
(15:43):
they're not connecting to that.
They don't see the peoplebehind those numbers. They
don't see the experience thatinequity causes. They don't see
um, a black woman in a , onMedicaid might get treated. And
(16:04):
we have stories, we have enoughstories that show that a black
woman on Medicaid is gonna betreated differently than a
white woman who has a milliondollars or more. Yeah. You
know, a million these days isnot actually a lot, you know,
like there are billions ofdollars. Um, and we see that
with the hoarding at the, thehighest levels of, of
(16:25):
government and, and wealth thatpeople hoard resources , uh,
for some strange reason. Butultimately, again, people play
into those dynamics and theyvalue those people more than
others for some reason. So Ithink again, there's, there are
key points where those thingscan change.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I, so I recently did an episode talking about
Medicaid and the proposed cutsto Medicaid and had very
similar conversation of, likeyou hear, they're talking about
cutting $800 billion and notunderstanding what that means
in terms of people on theground who are gonna lose
access to services, hospitalsthat are gonna close that then
(17:08):
people will not have access to.
It's so easy to get caught upin just the number and forget
the person behind that and theperson whose life is impacted
behind all of these things. Andstorytelling and , and getting
people's stories out is such a, an important part of that.
But it is always just soimportant to keep the people
(17:29):
front and center
Speaker 2 (17:30):
For sure. And once you hear those stories to then,
you know, go and do somethingabout it. Don't Yeah . Forget
about it. Like, oh, that's sosad. And then move on to the
next thing. Yes. There's a lotof distracting news these days,
so people are putting out firesin , in every direction.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah. And like even forgetting that some of , of ,
so many of these stories arelinked, right? Like thinking
about people, black maternalhealth doesn't just start and
stop with labor and delivery,right? We're talking about the
Medicaid cuts are gonna impactthem because health beyond
maternal health is important inthis conversation. Access to
(18:09):
abortion care or familyplanning services or just
having on the ground support.
Like all of these factors areinterrelated, but talked about
so often in silos.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Hmm . Yeah, definitely. One of the things I
actually, this is one of theways that my career started was
with a focus on socialdeterminants of health. You
know, people are moving on tostructural determinants of
health, but essentially avariety of factors influence
health and wellbeing. Andstress is a huge influence on
(18:49):
health and can set you up forfailure if you're stressed out,
if you're worried about yourjob, if you don't have a job,
if you're unemployed, if youdon't have access to
transportation to get around orchildcare if you don't have
access to healthy food. So I'mthinking about people that use
(19:11):
WIC and SNAP and , um, rely onthat kind of public assistance
to eat and to feed theirfamilies. And you have a
government that's saying, we'regonna cut all that
we're gonna take away yourright to food, your right to
housing, to jobs. You don't,your job is insecure at this
(19:33):
point. We can only, you know,you can only imagine what kind
of effect that has on mentalhealth on the body. We know the
mind and body are connected.
They're one, we are not
person, a whole person. Andwhen you start to attack any
(19:53):
aspect of that person, you putthat whole person at risk and
it shows up. It starts toappear, you know, in heart
disease, in obesity, in mentalhealth crises , which we don't
talk about enough either , uh,as a , uh, community, as a
country, we have a lot ofstrides to make in that area.
(20:16):
But what I , my point here is Iwant people to understand that
yeah, it's not just healthcare.
Um, it's not just healthinsurance, those things, that's
just the end of the line,right? That's where everything
falls apart. It's like you'vebuilt a house on a shaky
foundation, Medicaid cuts orthe, the heavy wind that comes
through and blows everythingdown. And I, I question, you
(20:42):
know, how people will be ableto survive that.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Yeah, it is definitely something that has
been on my mind a lot. I'm fromsouthern Wisconsin and I know
the local public hospital whereI live is one of the very few
in southern Wisconsin, NorthernIllinois. And hearing what the
Medicaid cuts could do andclose that hospital, like,
where are these people gonnago? And stories like that are
(21:07):
gonna be repeated across thecountry. And there's just so
much, like I said, kind of thisdevastation all around. But
again, trying to find hope inall of the things where we are
seeing other maternal healthnumbers coming down, like we
know it can be done. We justneed to find ways to make it
happen. To bring the blackmaternal health numbers down as
(21:28):
well.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
No, it was, no, it's a , it's a good point. Where
are those people gonna go forcare? Um, is a good question.
And the initial, my initialsort of internal reaction was,
okay, we need morecommunity-based efforts. We
need more homegrown efforts.
(21:51):
But at the same time, you thenrun into this the same
resourcing question. I'm also abusiness owner and I, that has
really taught me how much of adifference money makes and
resourcing makes. And if youdon't have the capital in a
capitalist society, which we'renot changing that anytime soon,
(22:14):
it's hard . It's very hard todo what you want to do and what
you need to do for yourcommunity if you don't have the
money to do it. So I'm like,yeah, there are any number of
things that could be done.
There are any number of thingsthat could be done. What's
missing is the will and thedesire and the compassion to
(22:37):
invest in the health andwellbeing of people. It's
absurd to me.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
This is the conversation we're having.
Yeah. Like that .
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, there's no, I don't, I don't know, I don't
wanna say that, but that's, itis there's no way to address
these issues without funding.
And government has beenresponsible and should be
(23:11):
responsible for fundingservices for its people. That's
why we have government, that'swhy we pay taxes. That's why we
elect them into office is tomake choices that benefit
people. And when you have agovernment that the leadership
is only making choices tobenefit themselves, their
(23:33):
pockets and the corporationsthat they're tied to, there's,
there's nothing to be done. We,we need a new government.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I know. It just feels so heavy right now.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I don't know if I can say that. Oh ,
Speaker 1 (23:47):
All of it just feels so heavy.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
We need leaders who are committed to doing what's
in the best interest of thepeople. I won't even call it
the right thing, you know?
'cause right and wrong, you getinto morals and values. Yeah.
But there are clear things thatdata and evidence show and that
we can see with our own eyesthat help, there are clear
(24:11):
things that harm. And so again,going back to that point of
making a decision, is thisdecision gonna help or harm
somebody? If we can help ablack birthing person that's
the right decision to make, orthat's a good decision to make,
if we're going to end upharming a black person or a bl
a black family, that's thewrong decision to make. That's
(24:33):
not a , that's not the bestchoice at the time. I think
what we have is people who aresaying they're seeing the best
decision as the one that worksfor white privilege and for
their economic benefit
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Or staying in office
Speaker 2 (24:51):
At the expense of everyone else. I , so I've had
this just random, randomthoughts. Um, I've had this
thing , I'm like, what do theywant? What does staying in
office benefit you? You've gotbillions of dollars
Speaker 1 (25:04):
If you're not using your power for good. Like, what
are we doing?
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Why are you there?
Just go enjoy your life withyour billions of dollars. Go
enjoy your life. Nobody askedyou , uh, I watched , uh, movie
recently, a documentary on thereligious right. That's a whole
nother conversation to getinto. And you know how they
bought into Trump as , um, theone who was gonna get their
(25:31):
agenda done for them. And we'reseeing that right now. But
again, I I question to whatend?
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Ugh . Again, it's like the
is so dark and heavy at themoment. Ugh . Okay. Let's think
through , okay, it's BlackMaternal Health Week. Yeah.
What, what can the audience do?
What actions should theaudience think about taking
this week to make a difference?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
I think individuals can do quite a few things. They
can , um, certainly educatethemselves on the topic,
participate in the blackMaternal Health Week events and
webinars and gatherings , um,that a lot of organizations,
advocacy organizations areputting on . Those are great
ways to learn more about thesetopics, learn more about how
(26:19):
they can help and also offersupport to these organizations.
So make a donation that'shelpful , um, for sure. But
also get involved, you know,donations work, but you also
need to know why you'redonating, what you're donating
to. You need to, you know, seehow the money's being used to
really believe in it. And Ithink when you connect with
(26:42):
these groups as a volunteer orjust showing up when they ask,
you know, going to march withthem, if they're doing that,
then you can see, hey, this isactually really important work.
Um, these are people that wantthe best for their community
and so I'm gonna do what I canto support them. So that's,
that's one thing. I thinkanother thing that people can
(27:05):
do is have conversations withpeople in their lives that
don't necessarily know thatthis kind of thing is
happening. I know a lot ofpeople are poli politically
unaware, right? We're, we arehere, we know what's happening,
we're having theseconversations, we live and
breathe this work. You'd besurprised how many people just
choose to ignore it, choose notto engage with it. So I think
(27:29):
we need some politicalactivation and awareness
amongst the broader Americansociety. Again, people are
gonna see how it's gonna affectthem and that's when they'll
pay attention. But we don'twant them to have to experience
really negative consequences tothen take action. So I think
there are criticalconversations that individuals
(27:50):
can have with their families,with their friends. I've had
conversations about maternalhealth at brunch, you know,
with the sorority sisters. Sothere are any number of places
where these things might comeup or you can bring them up.
It's like, Hey, did you hearthat this is happening? Like ,
(28:10):
um, sparking dialogue canactually , um, do quite a bit.
And I would say post BlackMaternal Health Week, don't
just go back to, you know,whatever you
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Would , it doesn't end there, right?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yes. So yeah, black Maternal Health Week does not
end on April 17th. The sameenergy we have during that week
is the same energy we need tohave throughout the entire
year. It's the same energy weneed to bring to the voting
booth when it's time to reelector , uh, make another choice
(28:43):
about who gets to take office,who gets to represent us , um,
who we think is gonna work forour best interest. So yeah,
don't stop there. So that's,we've got education
conversation, donating andvoting accordingly. And I guess
the fifth thing would be at anypoint in time where you are,
(29:07):
again, going left or right,asking yourself how is this
going to help? Or how is thisgoing to harm and choosing
accordingly.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
And then I'll just give my usual flag. I always
give, when we talk aboutdonating, if you are able, it
makes a huge difference if youcan be a monthly donor. Um ,
because then those groups knowthat they can consistently
count on that money as they'rebudgeting and making their
plans versus a one-off. Andthat's not saying if you were
gonna do like a hundred dollarsdonation, you need , you'd be
like a hundred dollars a monthdonor, but like $10 a month, $5
(29:41):
a month, they know they'regetting that every month and it
can really make a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah. And I think people also don't realize, like
even the small amounts, right?
They're also able to go totheir funders and say, you
know, they count as a person.
Yeah . It's not necessarilythat it's a dollar or $5, it's
like, hey, one more personbelieves in us. 10 more people
believe in this work andthey're giving. So that's some
, that's another way that thefunding helps is by this group
(30:07):
being able to show these, thisnumber of people cares about
our work and, and they're in itwith us.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Elizabeth, thank you so much for being here. I had
so much fun talking to you.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Thank you so much for having me. It was , um, a
good conversation and you know,these are tough times, but I
think we will get through itwith very dedicated, smart,
resilient action and withbuilding power amongst
ourselves and our communitiesand bringing , um, whoever we
(30:40):
can along.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Yeah. And I just have to say like, it is dark
and, but I couldn't do thiswork if I didn't actually have
hope or believe we couldn'twin, right? Like, so it may
feel really dark right now, andyes, there devastating things
are gonna happen, but I firmlybelieve we will get to that
better place where people haveaccess to the healthcare they
(31:03):
need. The black maternalmortality rate is comes
crashing down. We will havereproductive autonomy. We'll
have all these things. Icouldn't do my job if I didn't
actually believe that.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And guess what, now is the time to step up more
than ever. That's somethingI've been reminding myself that
now's the time for me to deepenmy advocacy, for me to deepen
my work, for me to dig into theancestral power
have, knowing that , um,generations before me went
(31:33):
through a lot worse. And , um,were able to find their own way
to thrive and to make progressfor us. So I can be here today
on a pod, you know, on apodcast at the Century
Foundation. Yeah. Walking onthe hill talking to
congressional members, right?
(31:54):
That's a place of power andthat's an opportunity that I
have to do, do the right thing.
So now's the time to step up,whatever in whatever way you
can.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Oh , thanks Elizabeth. Okay, y'all, I hope
you enjoyed my conversationwith Elizabeth. Like I said,
things are feeling a littleheavy right now. There's a lot
going on and a lot that we areworrying about that is gonna
impact black maternal health,but there is hope. We know what
needs to be done and we willkeep fighting. And yeah, it was
(32:25):
a good conversation. Takeaction in the myriad of ways.
Elizabeth suggested. Definitelycheck out the Black Maternal
Health Week website so that youcan find and participate in all
of the activities that arehappening this week. And I will
see everybody next week. If youhave any questions, comments,
or topics you would like us tocover, always feel free to
shoot me an email. You canreach me at jenny jn n
(32:51):
ie@reprofightback.com , or youcan find us on social media.
We're at Repro Fight back onFacebook and Twitter or re Pros
FB on Instagram. If you loveour podcast and wanna make sure
more people find it, take thetime to rate and review us on
your favorite podcast platform.
Or if you wanna make sure tosupport the podcast, you can
also donate on our website atre pros fight back.com . Thanks
(33:13):
all.
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