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Annotated Bibliography
Althaus, F. “U.S. Maternal Mortality Has Continued Its Decline,
but Risk Remains Higher
among Minority Women.” Family Planning Perspective, vol. 23,
no. 3, May 1991, pp.
140–141. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.2307/2135829.
According to the article by F. Althaus, the development in the
American health system
has continuously transformed the health sector and the delivery
environment among expectant
mothers. When compared to the previous era, expectant White-
American mothers are delivering
safely, specifically those who live in states where the quality of
health infrastructure and services
are high. Unfortunately, though, the population of people of
color’s maternal mortality rate is
increasingly reporting the highest in minority communities due
to the low quality of health
infrastructure and services in their living environments. Althaus
presents that both maternal and
child mortality rates among Black mothers are three times that
of Whites. This author stretches
the discussion to address the long history of birth oppression
among Black mothers and the
strategies that have been applied to suppress these oppressions.
The author outlines that the

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Black, marginalized, population contributes significantly to the
American ecosystem. Therefore,
providing quality service, especially for the expectant mothers
of color, should be something the
federal government sees as a must do instead of coming up with
illegal family planning
approaches with a hidden agendas. It is imperative that equity
prevails for all races during
maternity and childbirth.
El Sayed, Abdulrahman M., et al.: Social Environment,
Genetics, and Black-White
Disparities in Infant Mortality."Paediatric & Perinatal
Epidemiology, Vol.29. no.6.
November.2015.pp.546-551.EBSCOhost.doi:10.1111/ppe.12227
The above article presents information on genetics and one’s
surroundings as the factors
that interplay and produce the wellness of the population within
a given place. The article
discusses parental race differences and vulnerabilities of infant
mortality rates through studying
how genes and a person’s environment could shape these
perinatal vulnerabilities. El Sayed
found that the dynamic of child deaths continue to increase
among the black community with
said improvement in the health sector impacting only the white
population. Instead of genetics
being the main impact on child deaths, it is shown that race-
driven prejudice and structural
socio-economic opportunities of social surroundings is a great
explanation of why there are
racial differences in infant mortality rates. Despite these factors

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being proven to be contributing
to the number of deaths among infants, the government does
little to address the associated risk
factors. The author recommends that the federal government
could mitigate the social factors and
introduce more diverse healthcare providers to promote
wellness among Black-American
expectant mothers.
Geronimus, Arline T. “The Effects of Race, Residence, and
Prenatal Care on the
Relationship of Maternal Age to Neonatal Mortality.” American
Journal of Public
Health, vol. 76, no. 12, Dec. 1986, pp. 1416–1421. EBSCOhost
doi:10.2105/AJPH.76.12.1416
This article incorporates a mother’s age into the discussion of
race and the rates of infant
mortality during the late 70s. According Geronimus, after
analyzation of the 1976 to 1979 births
and deaths records, there was some evaluation of maternal age,
but included in this study was
racial identification and prenatal intervention for situations
such as underweight births, short
gestation periods, as well as neonatal death predictions.
Although neonatal death among the
teenaged black mothers is isolated from this article, it was
found that many of the Black female
teens at the age of 23 years or older experience greater neonatal
mortality rates as compared to

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the white teens. As a result, the article rules out the possibility
that teenage maternity is the
leading risk factor to the associated problems that leads to the
soaring rates of child deaths and
Black mothers, regardless of the age, experienced higher
neonatal mortality rates than that of
whites.
Hogan, Vijaya K., et al. “Commentary: Eliminating Disparities
in Perinatal Outcomes
—Lessons Learned.” Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol. 5,
no. 2, June 2001, p.
135. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1023/a: 1011357317528.
The above article explores the differences between white and
black mothers in perinatal wellness
who experience preterm delivery, infant mortality and the
susceptibility among black women for
maternal death. This article discussed the public wellness action
by highlighting the racial and
ethnic-based differences in order to isolate the need for a
greater comprehension of these factors
that lead to their betterment. The authors of this article realize
that stress, environment, genetics,
economic and socioeconomic resources, and access to quality
health care service all contribute to
pregnancy and lead to the differences in childbirth deaths as
well as preterm delivery for black
and white women. The understanding of black women’s lives
should be immediately used to
develop better interventions for addressing health disparities.
Preterm delivery in particular can
easily be avoided with the proper team and treatment plan but

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doctors are not taking the time to
address them for women of color.
Nanyonjo, Rebecca D., et al. “A Secondary Analysis of
Race/Ethnicity and Other Maternal
Factors Affecting Adverse Birth Outcomes in San Bernardino
County.” Maternal &
Child Health Journal, vol. 12, no. 4, July 2008, pp. 435–441.
EBSCOhost ,
doi:10.1007/s10995-007-0260-x.
According to the authors of this article, San Bernardino
County's vastness in the States has
helped it acquire a large amount of the American budget yet it
has continuously lagged behind in
lowering the rates of poor perinatal results and infant deaths.
The article analyzes the adverse
birth outcomes such as low birth weight and infant mortality
during childbearing. According to
the outcome of the survey, it emerged that Black women are
more than twice as likely to give
birth to underweight children as compared to white women.
Additionally, the authors explain
that the leading cause of adverse birth results amongst the Black
population is the prolonged
gestation period and the lack of maternal knowledge. According
to these authors, the average
risk factors, prolonged gestation period and maternal age,
presents a partial explanation on
adverse birth results. This enforces the need for sequential data

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collection on maternal
knowledge, and also the enhancement of public wellness
initiatives which play a critical role in
highlighting inequities among America's most marginalized and
vulnerable society.
Owusu-Ansah, Albert K., & Richard J. David. "Mortality Risk
of Small Infants Varies
with Their Mother's Birthweight and Race.” Paediatric &
Perinatal Epidemiology,
vol. 22, no. 2, Mar. 2008, pp. 145–154. EBSCOhost ,
doi:10.1111/j.1365-3016.2007.00900.x.
The above article presents a comparison between birth-weight
percentiles with the focus
on gestational age among new babies from the more low-risk
black and white American women.
The study also explores racial disparities within the proportion
of small for gestational age
(SGA) births. According to this article, the race-based variation
especially in birth weight
percentiles as exemplified by gestational age prevailed. In the
context of drawing a comparison
between white women, the vulnerability of an SGA newborn
showed to be over two times more
likely for Black women, and the risk of infant mortality to be
one and a half more likely for them
as well. As a result, race variations in the fetal development
trends came out on top after
managing for risk status. An attempt to isolate racial differences
in childbirth deaths would
require the development of pathways which could help to
explain the reason as to why black

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women experience higher rates of preterm birth and higher
childbirth deaths among non-SGA
infants.
Parekh, Natasha, et al. “Prenatal and Postpartum Care
Disparities in a Large Medicaid
Program.”Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol. 22, no. 3, Mar.
2018, pp. 429–437.
EBSCOhost doi: 10.1007/s10995-017-2410-0.
According to this article, Pennsylvanian patterns of maternal
and infant deaths and
preterm birth tops the list amongst other American states,
especially those in areas with
marginalized races and ethnic groups. As a result, the
interventions of better prenatal and
postpartum services could help to improve wellness outcomes.
The authors of this article
examined the extent in which the disparities have impacted the
postpartum and prenatal
interventions for the Pennsylvanian women enrolled in
Medicaid. Since Pennsylvania’s Managed
Care Organization provided the information needed to conduct
this study, the variations in the
results by region, ethnicity, race and year presented that Black-
American mothers benefited least
from the prenatal and postpartum services as compared to white
American and Asian mothers.
Among the non-indigenous Americans, the Hispanic/ Latino
women benefited from these

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services as compared to non-Hispanic females. As a result,
health interventions can improve the
outcomes as long as they are based on disparities such as
region, race and the information
provided by the MCO and are applied through measures that
promote equality amongst all
women.
Remez, L. “Pregnancy-Related Deaths in 1987-1990 Were
Nearly Four Times as Likely
Among Blacks as Among Whites.” Family Planning
Perspectives: vol. 29, no. 6, Nov.
1997, pp.288 289: EBSCOhost, doi: 10.2307/2953420.
According to Remez, the main objective of the Healthy People
2000 through the National
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention initiative was to
lower the rates of maternal mortality
to the expected level. The article explores racial-specific
variation among white and
Black-American women in the presence of pregnancy-related
vulnerabilities and deaths. The
author examines that the risk factors that cause deaths among
expectant Black-American women,
like hypertension induced by pregnancy, bleeding, and
pulmonary embolism could continue to
increase maternal and infancy deaths because they present
vulnerabilities embodied by
complications during childbirth. Remez states that the cause and
impact of these risk factors exist
because of racial disparity and Black-American mothers are the
ones with record high rates of
these deaths during childbirth. The author recommends the need

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for continuous surveillance and
more researchers who can utilize the information to evaluate the
strength of pregnancy-related,
race-specific deaths. Remez also makes it a point to state that
there is a need to make this kind of
information available and aware to policymakers in order to
help establish practical approaches
of curbing pregnancy and healthcare related deaths for women
of color.
Wingate, Martha S., et al. “The Influence of Maternal Mobility
on Birth Outcomes of
Non-Hispanic Blacks.” Maternal & Child Health Journal, vol.
13, no. 1, Jan. 2009,
pp. 48–55. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10995-007-0290-4.
This article focuses on the utilization of 1995 to 2001 data from
the National Center for
Wellness Statistics. The number of live births and birth deaths
found in the demographic files of
the newborns from Black mothers show differences in their
wellness status. These findings
presented the notion that the origin regions these women came
from needed improvement in the
health and economic sectors as compared to the regions they
later occupied and give birth in.
The article provides evidence to back the healthy migrant
impact in the private Black
community. Within this context, the study outcome shows that
the newborns of the Black women

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who had changed states before giving birth had far better birth
results as compared to newborns
of those mothers who had not migrated before giving birth.
Black mothers are having to
completely move their lives in order to receive better
healthcare, instead of staying in locations
where they are comfortable and used to.
Xu, Jia, et al. “Maternal Hypertension after a Low-Birth-Weight
Delivery Differs by
Race/Ethnicity: Evidence from the National Health and
Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES) 1999–2006.” PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 8, Aug.
2014, pp. 1–10.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104149
Xu Jia and her colleagues, in their article, depict that many
expectant mothers experience
maternal morbidity and mortality as a result of cardiovascular
conditions, such as hypertensive
issues, which is associated with a low-birth-weight delivery.
Moreover, the article explores the
likelihood that ethnicity/race, the status of menopause, and the
number of years after the previous
pregnancy helped to modify these findings. After examining the
impact of hypertension on
expectant mothers, the study showed that the majority of the
pregnant women that experience
this ailment following small for gestational age delivery were
black as compared to whites. The
article also finds that the Hispanic and white populations do
have some experience with

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hypertension but not to the extent of black women. As a result,
medical interventions tackling
health conditions such as blood pressure among expectant
mothers in the urban, minority areas
need to be improved to reduce the rates of infant and maternal
deaths during delivery.
Orit Mohamed: Why Advocating For Black Women And
Wellness Is Important, But Often
Overlooked https://blavity.com/advocating-for-black-women-
and-wellness
According to this article, the history of the oppressive nature of
the White population
against the Black community spreads to the health care system
and the treatment of expectant
mothers of color. The places dominated by the white community
experience high-quality
medical services with careful procedures launched to ensure the
wellness of them as expectant
mothers. White mothers found with diseases and other risk
factors have access to undergoing
specific treatment plans to ensure their newborn babies are
healthy and safely delivered. On the
other hand, black expectant mothers would experience
negligence, a weak medical system, and
https://blavity.com/advocating-for-black-women-and-wellness
https://blavity.com/advocating-for-black-women-and-wellness
less monitoring while facing conditions such as hypertension.
This leads to the high rates of
maternal and infant mortality. As a result of this, many of these

12.
black mothers had to work hard
to demand equity in maternal health care and delivery in order
to save the upcoming generations
from experiencing this as well. So many mothers of color have
come together to fight against
these oppressions and ensure that the services given to the
white population are also offered to
them. The Black Women for Wellness initiative has been aimed
at lowering the rates of maternal
and infant deaths and making these statistics as low as white
mothers.
Center for Reproductive Rights:
https://www.reproductiverights.org/document/black-mamas-
matter-toolkit-for-advancing
-human-right-to-safe-respectful-maternal-health-care
This article presents the recent initiative by the black
community to push forward with
their plan of fighting for human rights and equity for all without
discrimination. After still
realizing that racial discrimination exists heavily, the Black
Mamas Matter group came into force
and have been bringing awareness to the inadequate maternal
health services that are seen a lot in
the Southern states. The author notes that the states within the
southern section of America,
which are mostly occupied by the Black-Americans, are still
experiencing high rates of maternal
and infant mortality. The BMM initiative, therefore, decided to
advocate for improved medical
services for black women in order to help lessen the number of
these deaths. This organization

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has also established advocacy for equal treatment by whites in
every sector of the nation due to
their significant contribution to the national economy. This is
also in line with the country’s
constitution and the World Health Organization’s requirement
of the American federal
government to all its citizens.
Kanya D’Almeida (2016): Exploring Birth Justice: A
Conversation with Julia Chinyere
Oparah and Alicia Bonaparte
https://rewire.news/article/2016/02/24/exploring-birth-justice-
conversation-julia-chinyere
-oparah-alicia-bonaparte/
Kanya D’Almeida explores the struggle that has been prevalent
in the community of
Black-American mothers to preserve the lives of the pregnant
mothers and the incoming
generations. According D’Almeida, the likelihood that a Black
newborn will die during
childbirth is three times as high compared to that of a white
newborn due to the surroundings in
which the expectant mother and child dwell in during such a
delicate process. In the book that
Julia Chinyere Oparah and Alicia Bonaparte co-edited, entitled
Birthing Justice: Black Women,
Pregnancy and Childbirth, the topic of the Nascent Movement in
which fought against the
criminalization of Black-American women for being expectant
is discussed heavily. This
inhuman policy by white imperialists was aimed at stopping
Black populations from giving birth

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https://www.reproductiverights.org/document/black-mamas-
matter-toolkit-for-advancing-human-right-to-safe-respectful-
maternal-health-care
https://www.reproductiverights.org/document/black-mamas-
matter-toolkit-for-advancing-human-right-to-safe-respectful-
maternal-health-care
https://rewire.news/article/2016/02/24/exploring-birth-justice-
conversation-julia-chinyere-oparah-alicia-bonaparte/
https://rewire.news/article/2016/02/24/exploring-birth-justice-
conversation-julia-chinyere-oparah-alicia-bonaparte/
for fear that they would outshine them and take over the
American sectors. Bringing awareness
to history such as that enables people to understand the
important of the birth justice movement
for black women. This movement is a different approach to
childbirth and allows black expectant
mothers to have far more control over how their birthing
process goes from prenatal to
postpartum.