"Although the nation made progress in closing the gap between white and Black mortality rates from 1999 to 2011, that advance stalled from 2011 to 2019. In 2020, the enormous number of deaths from Covid-19 — which hit Black Americans particularly hard — erased two decades of progress".

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"High mortality rates among Black people have less to do with genetics than with the country’s long history of discrimination, which has undermined educational, housing, and job opportunities for generations of Black people, said Clyde Yancy, an author of the study and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Black neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s — designated too “high risk” for mortgages and other investments — remain poorer and sicker today, Yancy said. 

"Race shouldn’t determine your health. Zip code shouldn’t change your life expectancy. Dr. Nwando Olayiwola explains how the medical profession does harm to patients by perpetuating racism & committing place-ism, ignoring place & health connections. She offers solutions for how technology & educational reform can help".

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"Because in medical school we are taught that black patients have a higher threshold for pain, if Wendy came to my office presenting with pain as a black woman she would be significantly less likely to have that pain addressed. Similarly if Wendy as a Black woman presented to the emergency department with crushing chest pain, she would be 50% less likely to receive any life saving intervention for a heart attack".  - J. Nwando Olayiwola

"Racial disparities in risk factors related to pregnancy—such as hypertension, anemia, and gestational diabetes—exist and are exacerbated by stress related to racial inequality and often inadequate health care, which is not in tune with African American women’s needs. However, many physical health factors do not explain the disparity for African American women in maternal mortality. Studies have shown that smoking and drug abuse, as well as obesity, do not explain why more African American mothers die from pregnancy".

"While the ACA and Medicaid expansion increased access to reproductive health services, too many women, especially low-income women and women of color, do not have access to necessary reproductive health care—including contraception, abortion, STI screenings, and reproductive cancer screenings—due to a variety of restrictions and funding shortfalls".

"Racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality, however, are apparent across all income and educational levels. For example, one study in New York City found that even among those living in the highest-income communities, Black pregnant and birthing people had a maternal mortality ratio nearly four times that for non-Black pregnant and birthing people". 

"Lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the perinatal workforce contributes to the mistreatment and abuse that Black pregnant and birthing people frequently experience within our medical system. 35 Black patients who have Black physicians have greater trust in their provider, are more likely to obtain needed care, adhere to medical advice more frequently, and ultimately have lower infant mortality".