As Tennessee strives to become a “pro-life state,” lawmakers say that state priorities prove otherwise, especially when considering the livelihood of Black mothers.
“The Tennessee legislature continues to prioritize corporations over the lives and wellbeing of our Black women and families in pregnancy,” the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement.
The state has historically held a high maternal mortality rate. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has ranked the state as having the third worst rate in the nation.
In its most recent report, the Tennessee Department of Health said that non-Hispanic Black women are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. They also said 89 percent of deaths were deemed preventable.
Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) has long been an advocate for Black mothers given the “horrific” maternal mortality crisis in Tennessee. Lamar and Briana Perry, interim executive director of Healthy and Free Tennessee held a press conference at the Cordell Hull Office Building in Nashville to address the mortality crisis and discuss areas of improvement for the coming year.
Lamar said this topic is special to her, as her son died because of an abruption that led to stillbirth during her first year in the legislature.
“That was one of the hardest moments of my life,” Lamar said. “But what it did was – it brought more awareness that maternal and infant mortality doesn’t have a position or title to it. It impacts all communities including mine, and women across this state and country.”
Given the state’s excessive infant and maternal mortality, it’s evident that Tennessee is facing a crisis. Lamar said that if the state wants to continue its pro-life stance, it needs to provide more resources for mothers, especially Black ones.
She went on to explain that she has proposed a number of pieces of legislation that would positively affect these communities, and lower the mortality rate. In 2022 Lamar passed her first bill which pushed for “acknowledgement and support” for doulas. Last year’s Governor’s budget also allocated $1 million for pilot programs for doulas in “underserved communities.”
While Lamar has pushed for legislation that would help lower both the maternal and infant mortality rate, she admits that she still has to continuously advocate for Black mothers like herself across the state.
“If we are going to be a state that’s going to force all women to have babies we need to make sure we fully fund healthcare so that women can access all the services they need,” Lamar said. “Before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and after pregnancy.”
Some of these policies include “cultural competency” training for healthcare providers providing services to Black women. This also includes addressing economic, housing, and food disparities.
“A lot of times Black women are dying because we’re unhealthy because our only access to decent food is the corner store with Twinkies and Hot Cheetos and Taquitos every day,” Lamar added.
Perry added that maternal health outcomes are “deeply connected” to these things as well as reproductive justice. She said that reproductive oppression takes many forms, such as only having the option of hospital birth and “traveling long distances for prenatal care.”
“Sadly, we know that communities — especially Black communities — have been impacted by [a] history of reproductive oppression, and have not been afforded the human right to choose to — or choose not to — create families,” Perry said.
Because of these things, Perry said that Healthy and Free Tennessee advocates for policies and legislation that will improve the lives of marginalized community members and their families. Perry further applauded the work of doulas in the state for their efforts in “intervening” in the “Black mortality crisis.”
While the state has made a few strides in ending the crisis, both Lamar and Perry mentioned there is a lot more work to be done. Lamar added that she was disappointed by the priorities of the legislature as she continued to push for legislation that would prove to be beneficial to mothers and families, such as a proposal to tap into TennCare funds to help families. She mentioned that several of her efforts were shot down.
“When I tell the legislature ‘you have the ability to stop this,’ it is because many of the choices you have made when it comes to people and families have not been in their best interests and have allowed them to have a life where they are healthy,” Lamar said. “I just fundamentally believe that the state of Tennessee and the United States – with all the resources they have – can fully fund every healthcare, education, housing resource possible. We have the money, and we’re just choosing not to do it, and that’s the frustrating part.”