Health Topics

Black women had the highest odds of (cesarean) C-section delivery, the surgical delivery of a baby through a cut (incision) made in the mother’s abdomen and uterus. Black women were 1.5 times more likely to undergo C-section delivery than White women and were more likely to experience pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, hypertension, and C-sections. Research shows that the difficulties are driven by toxic stress related to healthcare provider bias and transgenerational exposure to racism (Expecting Birth Justice, 2023).

It is essential to recognize the potential influence of race on health outcomes, and race itself is not biological but rather a social construct with profound socioeconomic and health consequences. Black women reported that providers do not listen to them and found that 11% of Black women reported being unfairly treated based on race or ethnicity. Okwandu, et al, 2022. Black women also reported feeling pressured to have a C-section birth almost twice as often as white women (18 percent compared to 9.5 percent). Forty-two percent of Black women gave birth by C-section, compared to only 29 percent of White women. In San Francisco, fiscal C-section birth rates, including half of the current year for Black women, increased from 29.6% to 31.8% in the last five years.