Black women die in childbirth at disproportionate rates compared to their white counterparts. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clearly shows that social determinants - access to nutrition, transportation, and healthcare——are crucial factors.
With the decision to restrict access to birth control and care,
the Supreme Court imposed additional penalties on a selected portion of the US
population - Black women. They were added without due process or a trial at the individual
level. These elevated risks are clear and undeniable, as explained
below.
Assume two population groups or sectors. In Sector One, women die in childbirth at the rate of ten per 1,000 live births. In Sector Two, the maternal mortality rate is 100 per 1,000 live births. With the elimination of birth control, there are 2,000 live births in each sector. This implies 20 Sector One deaths and 200 in Sector Two.
Amanda Stevenson, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, explains that abortion, with 4 deaths per 1,000.000 procedures, is safer than pregnancy, with 200 deaths per 1,000.000 live births in 2019.
The policy change results in 10 additional deaths in Sector
One and 100 additional deaths in Sector Two. These are significant additional
risks, imposed on persons with a medical condition - having a child. Not only has this added
risk has been imposed without consent, it may be a violation of both the equal
protection and due process clauses of the US Constitution. (Given the known
differential in birth outcomes, equal protection is absent. Due process is
absent because group members who die in childbirth are condemned to do so without a
trial.)
We believe this decision supports an immediate, national
effort to equalize maternal mortality risks across populations. High social
impact investments designed to facilitate the creation of technology-based
monitoring and health care delivery systems designed to reduce the risk of Black
maternal mortality are one possible solution.
According to market research firm CBINSIGHTS, “Digital
health investment around the world hit an all-time high of $57.2 billion in
funding in 2021...” Few, if any, of these dollars went to address Black
maternal mortality. (We have been researching the sector, however, and recognize
increasing levels of activity (see, for example, virtual obstetric care
platform Babyscripts and maternity coaching firm Mahmee). We will release our definitive study on the space
soon.)
We believe the Federal Reserve, under Section 13(3) of the
Federal Reserve Act, should be the primary participant in the Maternal
Mortality Reparation Facility for Black Women. We note that the Fed spent
$2 trillion supporting large non-minority financial institutions.
The facility we have proposed is tied to real time
monitoring systems that vector resources to pregnant Black women in a
just-in-time manner. Given our forecast that the added focus on the sector will
generate revenue from public and private sources, we also expect returns in this
sector to be abnormally high.
The Maternal Mortality Reparation Facility for Black Women, created with the goal of reducing Black women's maternal mortality, will facilitate access to food and nutrition, transportation, housing, and healthcare. Providing critical resources needed by Black women in childbirth will save lives that should never have been at risk of loss in the first place.
After all, you cannot claim Black Lives Matter if you
damage the one group responsible for creating them.