ththe kind of f moment mosost pt women drdream of. yet t this is the ststark rerea thatat most pregegnant blackck live with.h. > yeaeah, i m m f feeling pr. i wawas scscared. i had i i wasas crying.g. angel is in laboror with her sixtxth child.d. what were e you afraraid of?f? c coming in a and not comomi. a ashleigh is h having her rd chchild in onene month. > y you know,w, mom h has th wonderfuful moment a and wasn t making it t out alive e out of hospitital. > e elaine gaveve birth n ne years s ago. we re preparing f for the wot at the b best time i in our liv. t three women, three pregnancies, one journey to understand exactly what scares them about hospitals. and why some black women like me are now redefining the oldest act in human history, childbirth. a few years ago, i was pregnant with my first daughter. i knew the black maternal mortality statistics, and i didn t want to take any chances. so i decided to skip the doctor and the hospital and with the
i am anderson cooper. while the u.s. is the most expensive country when it comes to tkgiving birth, it s also th safest. the statistics are more dire when it comes to giving birth for black women. the question is why do black women face more risks when they go to the hospital to give birth? that s the question that cnn anchor and new mom, abby phillip, has been asking since the birth of her daughter two years ago. abby made unconventional choices when it came to her own childbirth experience, and since then she has been surprised to meet so many other women that made the same choices that she did. over the next hour she takes us to hospitals and birthing centers around the country to show us why more and more black women are turning away from traditional health care and finding other options when it comes to giving birth. hi. hi, baby. reporter: this is the sound of new life being brought into the world. the e kind o of momement mosostt women drdream of.. yet t this is
why are you a doula? maternal death rate, my own experience with delivering my twins. reporter: mathis didn t want another parent to have the birth experience she did or worse, become a statistic. the u.s. has the highest maternal mortality rate among high income countries with black mothers faring worst. black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women according to the cdc. do you hope to help bring down the black maternal death rate? i think i m doing it just one client at a time. reporter: doulas are trained birth workers. they provide physical, educational, and emotional support for their clients before, during, and after childbirth. doulas like mathis are working to address concerns specific to black mothers to be. her client is due to deliver her seventh child, but this will be her first time using a doula. i have learned so much from her. i just people like a whole new mother. reporter: while labor and
baltimore. at least two people are dead. and 28 others injured. police say the victims were among a large crowd of neighbors attending a block party overnight when the gunfire started. an 18-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene according to police. and a 20-year-old man later died at the hospital. the city s mayor told me last hour this is a working class neighborhood and has intense pride, it is working to make improvements. police are going through video looking for clues. they re also asking for anyone with information to come forward. now more than ever, doulas are finding themselves on the front lines of protecting black mothers for several decades, black maternal death rates have been rising. right now for every 100,000 births, nearly 70 black women die, compare that to white women when the number lies at 26. i spoke with several black birth workers would are trying to reverse that trend. i ve seen a mom code and a
mom s contractions completely stop. zannia has seen a lot of close calls in her four years as a birth doula. it was his experience that led her to choose this path. why are you a doula. the maternal death rate and my own experience with delivering my twins. reporter: she doesn t want another parent become a at theistic. the u.s. has the highest maternal mortality rate with black mothers faring the worst. black women are nearly three times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications rather than white women. do you hope to help bring down the black maternal death rate. i think i m doing it. just one client at a time. doulas are trained birth workers and they provide physical and educational and emotional support before, during and after child birth. they are working to address