A mother, a doctor and healthy babies
Courtland Milloy, The Washington Post
Jan. 26, 2021
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In a cellphone video taken by her husband, Folasada Butler lays in a hospital bed after giving birth to twins. The doctor who delivered them, Lynne Lightfoote, holds a newborn in each arm. Butler and Lightfoote are wearing protective masks, but you can hear their muffled expressions of awe. Oh my God, they say, again and again.
That s how childbirth is supposed to be. A blessed event.
For too many women, though, it s a death sentence. Maternal and infant mortality rates in the United States are the highest among developed nations. And the racial disparities are stunning, with Black women three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than White women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.