In the wake of a lecture by Ina May Gaskin, sponsored by the Texas Birth Network, birth workers Tasha Portley, R.N, M.S.N, C.C.M, C.P.ST, Erricka Bailey, CD, Jasmine Banks, L.A.C have created the petition Demand ICAN and TBN Trust BLACK Women.
Yesterday during a session at the Texas Birth Network “Birth Roundup” registered nurse Tasha Portley asked Ina May Gaskin about the impact of racism on the births of Black women.
Gaskin responded with anecdotal stories about Black women who lost their lives as a result of provider negligence, and blamed the Black women for not being more informed of their life-threatening symptoms. Moreover, Gaskin stated that “drug overdose” and the use of illegal drugs was the cause of the massive amount of Black maternal death rates. She also mentioned that communities “don’t pray as much as we used to” as a reason contributing to maternal death rates.
Sadly, this is just the latest effort in which natural childbirth advocates in general and Ina May Gaskin in particular engage in medical colonialism, expropriating the tragedies of Black women to advance a philosophy created by and for Western, relatively well-off white women.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Natural childbirth advocates in general and Ina May Gaskin in particular engage medical colonialism.[/pullquote]
It goes all the way back to Grantly Dick-Read, the founder of the natural childbirth movement, who was a racist and a eugenicist, who claimed:
…[P]rimitives experienced easy, painless labours. This was because in primitive societies the survival value of childbirth was fully appreciated and labour was regarded as nothing more than “hard work” in the struggle for existence. In civilised societies on the other hand a number of cultural factors conspired to distort woman’s natural capacity for painless birth, producing in woman a fear of childbirth that hindered normal parturition …
That racism is manifested in predominantly three ways:
1. The fantasy that white natural childbirth advocates are re-enacting birth among indigenous women
2. The exploitation of high rates of Black perinatal and maternal mortality to critique modern obstetrics without acknowledging that Black women need access to more technology, not less
3. The profoundly disturbing trend of white homebirth midwives learning their trade on the bodies of women of color in developing nations.
Natural childbirth is a philosophy of privilege. Political scientist Candace Johnson explores this phenomenon in The Political “Nature” of Pregnancy and Childbirth. Johnson asks:
[W]hy do some women (mostly privileged and in developed countries) demand less medical intervention in pregnancy and childbirth, while others (mostly vulnerable women in both developed and developing countries) demand more …? Why do the former, privileged women, tend to express their resistance to medical intervention in the language of “nature,” “tradition,” and “normalcy”?
And answers:
It is a rejection of privilege that simultaneously confirms it…
The fantasy of Third World women’s natural experiences of childbirth has become iconic among first world women, even if these experiences are more imagined than real. This creates multiple opportunities for exploitation, as the experiences of Third World women are used as a means for first world women to acquire knowledge, experience and perspective on ‘natural’ or ‘traditional’ birthing practices, while denying the importance of medical services that privileged women take for granted.
Reality is brutally different, as Jazmine Banks explains:
…The constant denial of the lived experiences of Black women is ignored while Black women continue to die because of maternal health disparities. Maternal health disparities means Black and brown women are dying from PREVENTABLE causes. Tasha asked Ina May Gaskin about the impact of racism within maternal health disparities- and good ole Ina did exactly what racists do: BLAME BLACK WOMEN FOR THEIR OWN DEATH AND SUFFERING, while refusing to acknowledge the ways in which systemic racism embedded in the birth community impacts women of color.
Today Tasha and Erricka are demanding that their community and allies stand with them and other Black women who wish to build better births for ALL. Help them by signing their petition, sharing their stories, and trusting them. #InaAintShit #TrustBlackWomen
The petition demands include:
1. Immediately acknowledge how harmful Ina May Gaskin is to the birth community. Publicly denounce Ina May Gaskin and those who support her racist ideology.
2. Refuse to attend/participate in events that feature Ina May Gaskin. Gaskin is being paid to teach a narrative that is violent to Black women and people of color.
3. Apply pressure to organizations who continue to support Ina May Gaskin and those who support her racist ideology.
4. Publicly commit to funding the work of Black women in the birth community.
5. Create a plan of accountability that includes anti-racist training for your chapters…
We DEMAND that ICAN, TBN, and the birth community TRUST BLACK WOMEN and build better births for ALL of us.
It seems to be the least that these organizations can do, yet some white individuals are still in denial, engaging in gaslighting as these comments make clear.
…[D]espite you putting Ina may on the spot about race and oppression during a discussion regarding maternal mortality (which is relevant to every woman, color, shape and size) and what you are now trying to do to her publicly- she still cares about your birth, your health, and your baby.
Including Gaskin’s son Samuel:
My mother cares about everyone of every race, gender and sexual orientation.. if you are interpreting her words in a malicious manner I’m sure you are misunderstanding her.
Really, what has Gaskin done about the problem of Black maternal mortality besides exploit it?
The ugly truth is that Gaskin and other natural childbirth advocates care about the deaths of women and babies of color only to the extent that they can use them for their own ends, not because they care that they are dead and not because they have any intention of lobbying for an increase in high risk obstetricians to treat the problem.
If you agree, please sign the petition.
