Written by Mariella Parry
The maternal mortality rate of Black women in the United States continues to skyrocket. According to the CDC, the maternal death rate of black women rose from 37.3 to 44 per 100,000 live births in 2018-2019. The Sundance Film Aftershock, produced by Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee, showcases this epidemic through the documented stories of real-life women and their torn families. The beginning of the film centers on the families of Amber Rose Isaac and Shamony Gibson, two healthy Black women who were ignored during and after pregnancy and whose deaths came at the hand of unjust treatment from the healthcare system during pregnancy.
Aftershock focuses on the emotional devastation families experience after losing a family member to medical neglect. Many women have left behind children, spouses, and mothers who never expected they would bury their children. Specifically, Aftershock shows the way that partners and extended families speak out about their loss. Omari Maynard, Shamony’s partner, shows how they’ve coped through art and creates portraits of other women who were mistreated and failed by a heavily biased medical system. Through Omari’s art, he creates a spiritual connection with Amber Rose Isaac’s partner – Bruce McIntyre who takes an equally healing, but ultimately quite different approach. Bruce began a support group for families affected by maternal mortality. Through this group, Bruce offers a vital space for others to have an outlet and a family of people who have shared the same pain. He is also in the process of starting a birthing center in his area, which will offer refuge to individuals and couples worried they will face the same harmful effects due to the highly prejudiced network of medicine.
The film explores the background of birthing and the importance of birthing centers. Birth care in the United States began with enslaved women providing care as midwives. Yet they were eventually pushed to the side by groups of white men who began the practice we know as “obstetrics and gynecology” or “OBGYN.” This shift brought the act of birthing to the hospital, instead of birthing centers and at home as it occurred in the past. Creating more birthing centers across the US is a vital issue in the present day considering that they often have much lower mortality rates and perform less invasive surgeries, such as c-sections, which are performed on Black women 5% more than their white counterparts. This part of history is so important and is often overlooked and not taught, though it is one of the origins of intense racism encountered in modern-day healthcare - more information on this topic can be found at the links below.
The topics that Aftershock covers are extensive and give crucial insight into not only the statistics but the cultural wreckage of childbirth as a life-or-death situation. Viewers are shown the systematic upheaval required by medical professionals to counteract the effects of historic and ongoing racism and maternal mortality. Pregnancy and birth can’t be safe for all mothers until it is safe for Black mothers.
Resources
The history of black midwifery:
https://shafiamonroe.com/history-african-american-midwife/
Donation links:
https://www.sowleadershipdevelopment.org/theariahfoundation
https://www.gofundme.com/f/JusticeForAmberRoseIsaac
