When Charity Watkins found out she was pregnant in 2016, then a PhD student, she did all the right things, meticulously following all the recommended steps to ensure a smooth and healthy pregnancy.
“I started my prenatal care. My husband and I took childbirth classes, read books about what to expect during birth, and made sure I ate well and exercised during my pregnancy,” said Watkins, who is Black.
Watkins, a maternal health researcher at Duke University and an assistant professor at North Carolina Central University, actively participated in her obstetric appointments by asking questions, sharing her family's medical history and joining online communities to learn from other pregnant women.
Still, Watkins said she had a near-death experience the day after giving birth. She was admitted to the intensive care unit with peripartum cardiomyopathy, or pregnancy-related heart failure.
“It wasn't until I had an x-ray that I finally understood what was going on,” Watkins says. “But why did it take so long? Why wasn't my condition taken seriously? Why didn't my doctoral education protect me?” she asks. “A daughter almost lost her mother, and a husband almost lost his wife.”
The United States has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world.
For black women, the situation is even worse.
In the United States, black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
A report released last year found that North Carolina's maternal mortality rate more than doubled from 2019 to 2021, rising much faster than the national average. Black women accounted for 43% of pregnancy-related deaths in the state from 2020 to 2022, despite making up just 22% of North Carolina's population.
Democratic state lawmakers are pushing bills aimed at addressing disparities and improving maternal health, especially those that affect Black mothers.
At a press conference Tuesday where Watkins shared her story, lawmakers and advocates urged passage of Senate Bill 838, which would establish an implicit bias training program for perinatal care providers and fund a perinatal education grant program.
The bill, also known as “MOMnibus,” outlines the rights of patients receiving perinatal care and allocates $5 million to implement the changes. The bill also requires the state Department of Health and Human Services to collect data on maternal death causes and mortality rates to help improve future implicit bias training.
Sen. Natalie Murdoch of Durham, the bill's lead sponsor, urged Republican lawmakers writing the budget during this short legislative session to allocate funds for the bill. “I know my colleagues are bragging about a $1 billion surplus, so I think we can come up with $5 million,” Murdoch said.
“Black mothers and Black babies deserve better,” Murdock said. “We must put state resources to work to improve these conditions and pass legislation that directly addresses these issues and the racial disparities and inequities in maternal health.”
Black mothers aren't the only ones suffering from disproportionate health outcomes in North Carolina: The CDC reported that while the state's infant mortality rate improved slightly from 2021 to 2022, Black infants in North Carolina remain more than twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday.
“I understand that some people think that they don't need medication because everyone perceives pain differently,” said Rep. Zach Hawkins (D-Durham), “but at the end of the day, in medicine, we need to make sure that any physician who wants to go into this field is trained to work with any patient.”
More than 80 per cent of maternal deaths are preventable, according to data collected from Maternal Mortality Review Committees, which are multidisciplinary teams convened at the state or local level to review deaths during pregnancy or within one year of the end of pregnancy.
“We're experiencing a crisis here,” Watkins said.
“Improving the maternal health of Black women improves the health of everyone. We can't afford to wait for action. We need laws like the 'Mommy Bus' Act now. Our lives depend on it.”
The House budget proposal released by Republican lawmakers late Monday does not include the requested funding.