As a coalition of progressive Missourians who work for health equity, to expand Medicaid and to protect access to reproductive health services, we are committed to lifting up Black health care providers and centering their critical work. To that end, we write to support and amplify the voices of Jamaa Birth Village and the Black leaders in our community and to urge Mercy Health stop perpetuating the colonization of midwifery, and to halt their plans of opening a competing health center in Ferguson, Missouri.
From Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey, the women who were enslaved and experimented on by an early creator of modern gynecology, to the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment on Black men that only ended in 1972, our country has a long history of experimenting on Black bodies for the ‘advancement’ of medicine. We can see the consequences of this disturbing history undeniably linked to the current racial disparities in health care in our community.
As of October 2019, Missouri ranks 44th in the nation for maternal mortality, the number of women who die due to complications from pregnancy. Among Black women, the numbers are even more dire — Black women in Missouri die at three times the rate of white women. Research shows that societal and systemic racism, including deep-rooted racial bias in health care, is a leading driver of these health disparities, and that culturally congruent care can help remedy these inequities. Jamaa Birth Village in Ferguson is working to change these statistics one birth at a time.
Since 2015, Jamaa Birth Village has provided wrap around support for pregnant and parenting women in Ferguson. Through a network of trusted health professionals, they have worked with more than 400 families to provide compassionate and empowering perinatal care in a community care setting.
Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur partnered with Jamaa Birth Village in 2018, seeking their expertise to grow Mercy Health’s ability to provide culturally competent care at the Mercy Birthing Center in Creve Coeur. The partnership between Mercy Health and Jamaa Birth Village was one small step towards rebuilding trust between the healthcare industry and the Black women who have been exploited by that system for so long. This progress has now come undone because of the secretive and underhanded way in which Mercy Health is proceeding to open a new health center just neighboring Jamaa Birth Village.
Clearly Mercy Health sees the value in Jamaa Birth Village’s work. Instead of investing in them and helping them to grow and thrive, Mercy Health is now planning to directly compete with them in their community, threatening the livelihood of the exemplary health center they have created. Despite Mercy Health’s stated commitment to the community, they have shared publicly that they are beginning a new center in an area that already has care, and stealing the Jamaa Birth Village model of care, thus undermining the expertise and desires of the very community they say they respect.
Rather than position themselves as direct competitors, we strongly urge Mercy Health to use their resources to support and collaborate with the well-established health providers who are rooted in the Ferguson community. And while there remain maternity care deserts across our state, we hope Mercy will bring their quality health services and commitment to addressing racial and health disparities to other communities in need.
In solidarity,
Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri
Alice Chamberlain
Alison Dreith
Ald. Annie Rice, 8th Ward
Brian M. Wingbermuehle
Chimene Schwach, MA
Ald. Christine Ingrassia, 6th Ward
Dana Sandweiss, Community Activist
Daniela Velázquez
Denise Lieberman
Dianna Fine
Jay-Marie Hill, ACLU-MO, Trans Justice Organizer; Principal, Music Freedom Dreams
Jessica Estes
Justice Gatson, Social Justice Doula
Kansas/Missouri Dream Alliance
Rep. LaKeySha Bosley
Hon. Lisa Clancy, St. Louis County Councilwoman
Lori Lamprich, St. Louis City Democratic Commiteewoman
Mallory Schwarz
Ald. Megan Ellyia Green, 15th Ward
M’Evie Mead
Milkayla Allen
Missouri Abortion Fund
Missouri Democratic Party Officers & Staff
Missouri Family Health Council, Inc.
MO Political Consulting
Molly Fleming
NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri
National Council of Jewish Women – St. Louis
Robin Utz, Defending Grace
Sarah Felts
Scott Intagliata
SEIU MO/KS State Council