Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Maternal Health is a Human Right

Last night, I had the honor of attending Amnesty International's evening focused on their recent report: Deadly Delivery- Maternal Health in the US. This report has made big waves in the birthing community, recently. Not that this information is particularly new -- but, I think fact that a large and well known human-rights organization dedicated the resources to an extensive report helped to bring it closer to the forefront of American thought and hopefully, going forward, to the forefront of American politics.

Just a few of the hard facts:
- The US is ranked 41st in the world in terms of our maternal mortality outcomes
- Maternal Mortality in the US has risen 42% since the 1980's
- African American women are 4 times as likely to die as white women in complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

One of the best parts of the evening was the multi-media that was highlighted. Ina May's beautiful "Remember the Mothers" quilt project was exhibited (Ina May was there, too!) and a spoken word group helped to celebrate the launch of the new www.mdg5.com.

I also thought that this would be a good opportunity to plug the upcoming documentary No Woman No Cry by Christy Turlington Burns. It will be showing at the Tribecca Film Festival in the coming weeks. Go see it!

I've missed blogging and I have lots to talk about - so, "see" you all soon!