More Black Mothers Deliver by Cesarean, Not Always by Choice

Sakeenah Fowler, Roebuck, SC.

Kimberly B. Glazer, PhD, MPH, perinatal epidemiologist, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai in New York City.

Rebecca Hamm, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Jamila Taylor, PhD, MPA, director of health care reform and a senior fellow, The Century Foundation, Washington, DC.

Camille Clare, MD, MPH, chair, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists district II (New York).

Natalie Hernandez, PhD, MPH, assistant professor and executive director, Center for Maternal Health Equity, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta.

Cleveland Clinic: “C-Section vs. Natural Birth: What Expectant Moms Need to Know.”

National Center for Health Statistics: “Births – Method of Delivery.”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2020.”

World Health Organization: “WHO Statement on Caesarean Section Rates.”

National Partnership for Women & Families: “Black Women’s Maternal Health.”

Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology: “Quality and equality in obstetric care: racial and ethnic differences in caesarean section delivery rates.”

Maternal and Child Health Journal: “Double Disadvantage in Delivery Hospital for Black and Hispanic Women and High-Risk Infants.”

The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics: “Structural Racism and Maternal Health Among Black Women.”

Nature: “Stunted microbiota and opportunistic pathogen colonization in caesarean-section birth.”