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Black Maternal Health Week ends tomorrow, but our challenges in having children continue. So, we couldn’t be more excited to see journalist and Project Runway host Elaine Welteroth and the GOAT, Serena Williams, join forces to launch The Birth Fund. The two decided to do something to address the alarming maternal mortality crisis in the United States. Each has experienced firsthand how our needs and symptoms are ignored. Welteroth chose to give birth at home, and Williams had severe complications post-pregnancy, resulting in several surgeries.
Their collaboration began earlier this week when the two penned a powerful essay in Time entitled We Shouldn’t Have to be Willing to Die to Give Birth in the United States. Among the facts shared in their piece is that 3.400 women have died since Serena and Elaine had their children. The CDC reports that Black women are three times more likely to die during or after childbirth. But the two don’t want to frame this as only a problem faced by Black women or poor women. (However, here, that is our primary concern.)
The roots of The Birth Fund began with Welteroth’s desire to give back. According to Afrotech, she started with a birthday fundraiser in December 2013. Birthfund was a coalition of Founding Family Funders who raised $16,000 to support out-of-pocket midwifery care for two families at Kindred Space LA.
The two believe that providing access to midwives may be one way to prevent the staggering maternal death rate in our country. Check out this conversation with Jennie Joseph to learn more about the maternal health crisis.
The Founding Family Funders include John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Kelly Rowland, Abby Phillip, Ayesha Curry, Savannah James, Karlie Kloss, and Ashley Graham.
You don’t have to be a celebrity to contribute to The Birth Fund, but they will match any contribution up to the first $100,000.
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