These women didn't suffer racial slurs in maternity care - it was something more insidious

"I was told by the midwife to shut up," says Tenisha, "and then she put her hand over my mouth... "

Shakira asked if alternative medication to morphine was possible after her C-section.

"The nurse got angry," she says. "She threw the morphine away, and I was then left alone for hours."

And when Kadi was recovering from a fourth-degree vaginal tear, she lay alone in her hospital bed crying her eyes out.

Stories from three separate women who were cared for in three different hospitals, but they all shared a similar experience - their pain was ignored, their concerns were dismissed, and they believe their race played a part in the treatment they received.

The government says tackling disparities in maternity care is a priority, calling the fact that black women are twice as likely to die during childbirth an "absolute outrage".

But behind the statistics are real women, living with the consequences.

"I haven't felt supported, I haven't felt safe, I haven't felt like my pain was taken seriously," says Tenisha Howell, 33, who has five children.

"I have a lot of experiences that I can draw from, and it's sad to say that a lot of them have been quite negative," she says.

Tenisha says her most recent birth was "probably one of the most traumatic experiences" she has ever had.

She was screaming in agonising pain as the gas and air she was given was beginning to wear off. The response from her midwife?

"She told me to shut up multiple times and then she put her hand over my mouth to basically say, 'be quiet'," Tenisha explains.

Dr Michelle Peter, co-author of the Five X More Black Maternity Experiences Report, says: "This kind of dismissal of black women's pain and refusal to provide adequate pain relief when it's requested is a common experience amongst the black women who have shared their experiences with us."

The Black maternal experiences report gathered responses from 1,164 black and mixed-heritage women across the UK who had been pregnant between July 2021 and March 2025.

Of these women, 54% said they experienced challenges with healthcare professionals, while almost a quarter reported not receiving pain relief when it was requested.

"This is kind of linked to historical, but also ongoing, racialised assumptions about black people's tolerance to pain, their vulnerability or their strengths," says Dr Peter.

"It was a horrifying experience, to be in so much pain, to be asking for help and nobody listening to you."

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Source: Sky News, 16 February 2026

Further reading on the hub:

• Five X More campaign: Improving maternal mortality rates and health outcomes for black women