Systemic racism, not broken bodies: An inquiry into racial injustice and human rights in UK maternity care (Birthrights, May 2022)

Summary

Systemic racism in maternity care is an urgent human rights issue. For too long, evidence and narratives about why racial inequities in maternal outcomes persist have focussed on Black and Brown bodies being the problem – ‘defective’, ‘other’, a risk to be managed.

Birthrights’ year-long inquiry into racial injustice has heard testimony from women, birthing people, healthcare professionals and lawyers outlining how systemic racism within maternity care – from individual interactions and workforce culture through to curriculums and policies – can have a deep and devastating impact on basic rights in childbirth. This jeopardises Black and Brown women and birthing people’s safety, dignity, choice, autonomy, and equality.

The inquiry’s report, Systemic Racism, Not Broken Bodies, uncovers the stories behind the statistics and demonstrates that it is racism, not broken bodies, that is at the root of many inequities in maternity outcomes and experiences.