Advocating For Black Birth

National Association to Advance Black Birth

A VOICE FOR THE LOUDEST SILENCE

Who We Are

The National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB) works to improve the care and treatment of Black birthing people and infants to combat the effects of structural racism on Black maternal-infant health through: advocacy, research, educational programming, activism and policy change; equipping birth workers (doulas, midwives, lactation consultants, nurses, and doctors) and maternity health institutions with the practical tools and education they need to improve outcomes for Black birthing people.

LEARN MORE

Black Birthing
Bill of Rights

The Black Birthing Bill of Rights is a resource for every Black person that engages in maternity care. We want each Black woman and birthing person to know their rights and to have the tools to confidently exercise these rights. The Bill of Rights also serves as guidance for government programs, hospitals, maternity providers and others as they transform their policies, procedures, and practices to meet the needs of Black birthing people.

LEARN MORE

NAABB DISTRIBUTES
$100,000
in Scholarships to DC Midwifery Students

NAABB Receives $100,000 Grant from Developing Families Center

LEARN MORE

Stay Connected. Stay Empowered.

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on events, resources, and the movement to advance Black birth.

Our Programs

Birth Justice Incubator
& Fellowship

LEARN MORE

Midwifery
Scholarship

LEARN MORE

Donate

We're calling all Birth Workers, Supporters, and Allies to join us and become advocates for Black Maternal Health. Your donation means the world to us!

CLICK HERE

Our Funders

On behalf of the entire team at the National Association to Advance Black Birth, we want to tell you just how much your donation means to us. Your donations have helped us get one step closer to changing the lives of Black pregnant women. You are a part of this essential community, and we couldn’t make this positive impact on our community without you.

NAABB x California Health Care Foundation.png

This has to stop. Listen to Black women. Abortion is healthcare.

Tierra should still be here.

#Repost @cbsnews
・・・
Tierra Walker died of preeclampsia when she was 20 weeks pregnant. Now her family has filed a lawsuit in Texas, claiming she was denied an abortion that could have saved her life.

The family accuses Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, two San Antonio hospitals, several of her doctors and others of “deliberate indifference, discrimination, and medical mistreatment [that] ultimately caused her horrific and tragic death” in 2024. Paxton has been outspoken in his defense of Texas’ near-total abortion ban.

In a statement, University Health said its “priority is to provide medically appropriate and timely care” while “complying with all applicable laws and regulations.” The Texas Medical Board said in a statement its rules and the law “make clear that the absence of an imminent risk of death ... Should not prevent a physician from providing medically necessary care.” And a spokesperson for Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, another defendant, told CBS News that Gonzales has not prosecuted any abortion cases.

CBS News reached out to the doctors, Paxton and UT Health San Antonio. None of them responded to our request for comment on the lawsuit. #texas #pregnancy

For #BirthCenterWeek, step inside the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington, D.C. with NAABB Co-Chair Dr. Ebony Marcelle, who also serves as Director of Midwifery at @birthsofhope.

For 18 years, Dr. Ebony has been catching babies and expanding access to Midwifery care. Along the way, she has trained more than 100 Midwives, helping prepare the next generation to serve families and communities.

Birth centers give families more options for where and how they give birth, while centering personalized, community-based care.

We celebrate the birth centers and Midwives creating more pathways to safe, respectful, and supported birth.

🎥 @birthsofhope

Joy. Justice. Community. And yes, a rug was cut too. 🤭💕

@blackmamasmatter brought the Black maternal health community together for a very special #BMHC26.

We learned, connected, celebrated, and left even more committed to advancing Black birth.

Joy belongs in this movement. So does a future where Black mothers and birthing people are heard, respected, supported, and safe. Onward and upward! 💜

It’s #BirthCenterWeek! 🎉 This week, we join @birthcenterequitybce in celebrating the community birth centers, midwives, and leaders transforming what birth can look and feel like: building care rooted in dignity, safety, love, and power.

Because birth centers don’t just care for families. They build power in communities.

💜 Birthing Love. Birthing Power.

Join us in celebrating, and in pouring care back into the leaders who make this work possible. Support the Birth Center Leader Wellness Fund: http://bit.ly/bcwwellness

#BCW26 #BelovedBirth50by50 #BirthingLoveBirthingPower #BirthCenterEquity

While the uptick occurred nationwide, it’s much steeper in states that banned abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. SWIPE

#Repost @propublica
・・・
With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, women shouldn’t die of an ectopic pregnancy. Yet ProPublica’s analysis found a stark and baffling increase: Almost 200 women with ectopic pregnancies died from 2020 to 2025, compared with about 100 in the previous six years.

“A death related to ectopic pregnancy should really be a never event,” one OB-GYN said.

While the uptick in ectopic deaths occurred nationwide, the climb has been much steeper in states that banned abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Experts said more research is needed to determine the role of the abortion bans in the rise. But our analysis — along with stories about delays in ectopic care — underscores the need to find out what is driving the deaths, they said.

Tap the link in our bio to read the full story.

(Graphics by Lucas Waldron/ProPublica)

Informed consent isn’t optional. Ask before you’re on the clock. ⬇️

#Repost @fullbloombirthing
・・・
They’ll warn you about going past your due date all day. Ask them about Pitocin, AROM, induction risks — watch the energy change.

Love to see the Black Birthing Bill of Rights palm cards in @starsaligndoula’s doula bag! 🙌🏾

Got your deck yet? Head over to the link in our bio. 💜

#Repost @starsaligndoula
・・・
Any other birthworkers feel like “HERE DAMN” when it comes to posting on social media? 😭😩 Can’t wait for the days where our online presence doesn’t have to be perfectly curated…. 🤭

Here’s the actual post; Some of my current favorite things in my doula bag.

1. The Black Birthing Bill Of Rights by @the_naabb
2. The Birthworkers Baby Tracker to input all my doula babies names, weight and born date by @khronicallykaytee
3. The Doula Workbook to educate clients on benefits and risks of all the interventions they may see in the hospital by @ebbirth
4. Mothering The Mother by the legend and Queen Mother @shafiamonroe I’m half way through and it’s amazing, years of knowledge on her experience in this work and some postpartum recipes I would love to share with my clients. ☺️

August has been busy, I’ve had the blessing to be in 4 births this month. As well as prenatal visits, postpartum visits, virtual consults, an astrology reading and some work I’m doing behind the scenes. I also completed the @birthingadvocacy Bereavement Doula CE course 📚

I’m happy to be in Virgo season now I can gather myself get my house organized, meal prep and get back to the gym. A Virgo season without the south node being in Virgo thank god! 🙌🏾☺️

(Don’t get me started on this back to school now that CCSD changed the start times, ya girl has been struggling 😩)

Up to 50% fewer infant deaths. That’s the potential impact of breastfeeding cited by the CDC.

Breastfeeding may be personal, but the ability to sustain it is shaped by so much more.

Paid leave and protected pumping time from employers. Culturally congruent lactation care from healthcare systems. Policies that protect postpartum families. Affordable, nutritious food within our communities.

This Black Breastfeeding Week, we’re calling for systems to make support as accessible as the advice.

#blackbreastfeedingweek

This scene still hits because of how beautifully it depicts motherhood, grief, and a bond that transcends loss.

Walk with us - while alive, Annie leaves a bottle of her breast milk at her baby’s grave. Later, we see her reunited with her child in the afterlife, nursing her baby.

It is a quiet but profound depiction of a mother’s bond continuing through grief.

Breastfeeding is often discussed through the lens of nutrition, health outcomes, and infant development. But nursing also represents intimacy, comfort, connection, and the physical relationship between a mother and her baby.

For mothers who have experienced pregnancy or infant loss, grief lives alongside that bond. A mother grieves not only the life of her child, but the moments she expected to share with them. Holding them. Nursing them. Watching them grow.

This week, we honor the beauty of Black breastfeeding while holding space for those whose motherhood journeys were interrupted by loss.

For the mamas carrying both love and grief, we see you. We honor your babies, your memories, and motherhood, in all the ways you continue to carry it. 💜🤲🏾

#blackbreastfeedingweek #griefawarenessmonth #sinners

This is so clutch, especially for second-time moms who may already have “everything.”

A freezer meal prep party is such a thoughtful way to take something off Mom’s plate by helping put meals on it. It’s practical support that keeps giving long after the party is over. 
Would you try this for a mom in your village? ⬇️

#Repost @his_daughter_7

A seat at the table matters. So does what we do with it. ✨

NAABB was proud to join WORTH: A Private Soirée on Black Maternal Health & Capital as a Community Partner in Martha’s Vineyard.

Our Executive Director, Dr. Kanika Harris, and Board Member Stéphanie Etienne, who also serve as co-producers of @listentomedoc, joined a room of leaders, investors, founders, and changemakers for an afternoon centered on what becomes possible when Black maternal health receives the attention, influence, and investment it deserves.

Throughout the afternoon, clips from Listen to Me created space for conversation about the lived experiences behind the statistics and the work still ahead.

For NAABB, this is what advancing Black birth looks like. Bringing community, lived experience, advocacy, and expertise into the rooms where resources and decisions can shape what comes next.

Thank you to @nuumacare and McKinsey & Company for bringing WORTH to life, creating space and welcoming NAABB as a Community Partner.

Black maternal health deserves more than awareness. It deserves investment.

#WORTH2026 #NAABB #ListenToMe #BlackMaternalHealth #BlackBirth

Empathy matters, but mothers need real support before their exhaustion becomes visible. Who is checking in, sharing the load, and making sure they have space to rest? - @ucheblackstockmd

#Repost

Look at that supply! 🤯 Check out these tips and let us know what worked for you on your breastfeeding journey. ⬇️

#Repost ShikaSweetie TikTok

#BreastfeedingWeek

We advocate for our babies in delivery rooms. We protect them in schools. We show up for them in our communities. We speak up in every space where their safety, dignity, humanity, and lives are at stake.

Nolan Wells was 18 years old. To the world, a young man. To his mother, still her baby. And as we watch another Black mother grieve her child while seeking answers, her grief reaches far beyond her family.

Because he is our baby, too.

Whether our children are failed inside hospital walls or harmed in the world we send them into, the grief belongs to all of us. So does the responsibility to protect them.

We hold Nolan’s mother, Christine Wonsley, his father, Elmore Wonsley, his siblings, and everyone who loved him in our hearts.

Rest in power, Nolan Xavier Wells. 💜

Investing in Black maternal mental health means investing in the birth workforce.

We need to expand who gets to provide care, who gets supported in becoming a provider, and who has access to care rooted in their culture and community.

Building a stronger Black birth workforce is part of building a future where Black families have more choices, more support, and more people advocating alongside them.

That’s why NAABB is committed to creating pathways for more Black Midwives to enter and thrive in the field.

Support the Black Midwifery Scholarship Fund and help us invest in who cares for us. 🖤 Link in bio.

Education. Income. Status. None of it shields us from experiencing medical racism.

This is why NAABB works to grow the Black birth workforce and advance Birth Justice. Black families deserve better.

#Repost @withmerakico

You deserve to know your rights, before, during, and after birth. 💜

Our celebrated Black Birthing Bill of Rights is available as a tool that can be carried, shared, and used in real time. The Black Birthing Bill of Rights Card Deck was created to put power back into the hands of birthing people and those who support them. This 29-card, 4x6 deck comes in a custom box and serves as a beautiful, practical, and empowering tool for real-world care.

Be informed. Be prepared. Be heard. Link in bio.

Mahvu makes full spectrum care look amazing. 💜

Black maternal health outcomes would look a lot different if every family had access to this level of compassionate, informed, and culturally responsive support.

We’re so fortunate to have Mahvu (@chimoneralife) supporting NAABB’s doula trainings and generously sharing her cultural wisdom, lived experience, and deep commitment to birth justice with our community.

Received and reciprocated, sis. 💕

Tag a mama below. ⬇️

#Repost @realfallrisk

Love this! More deets in the caption. ⬇️

#Repost @dombroadusss
・・・
Pregnant girlies, please stop walking from the back of the parking lot when you don’t have to! 🥹

Here is what I did:

• Googled “temporary handicap placard [insert state]”
• Downloaded the form (in NJ, it’s right on the DMV’s website)
• Took it with me to my appointment
• Had my OB sign off on it
• Went to the post office to get a $4 money order to pay for the placard
• Took it to my local police station (per the state of NJ— your state may have a different process in place here)
• Waited 10 min for them to process it
• Left with my placard 🙃

SN: Some OB’s may not want to sign off on it because pregnancy isn’t technically a disability…. But in the state of NJ, not being able to walk 200 feet without taking a break is a qualifier (it’s literally listed directly on the form) — so make sure you are using what you got, to get what you want! *Ronnie Voice* 🤭

#pregnancy #lgbt #hack #women

Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs), Certified Midwives (CMs), and Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) each bring unique education, training, and practice settings to maternal healthcare.

Whether you’re deciding which type of Midwife best aligns with your needs or exploring a future in Midwifery yourself, understanding these pathways is the first step. Keep in mind that licensing and scope of practice vary by state.

Help us grow the next generation of Black birth workers by supporting NAABB’s Black Midwifery Scholarship. Every gift helps expand access to culturally congruent care and strengthens the future of Black maternal health. 🖤

Not one A…

#Repost @nbcwashington
・・・
The U.S.’ maternal health report card is out, and the results aren’t too great. Here’s what the score means for mothers across the country. ⁠
⁠
#MaternalHealth #Health #ReproductiveHealth

As the evidence grows, so should our urgency to act.

New research co-authored by NAABB Executive Director Dr. Kanika Harris, alongside Dr. Arline T. Geronimus, who pioneered the weathering hypothesis, examines two decades of U.S. pregnancy-related mortality data and provides further evidence supporting this framework.

Read the full article through the link in our bio.

We applaud Dr. Kanika Harris, Dr. Arline T. Geronimus, Dr. John Bound, and Landon D. Hughes for advancing evidence that informs policy, strengthens advocacy, and moves us closer to safer births for Black families.

Study finds cash for pregnant women leads to healthier babies. WATCH 🎥

#Repost @npr
・・・
A first-of-its-kind cash-aid program for pregnant women in Michigan has led to healthier babies at birth, with a new study finding a significant drop in admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit.⁠
⁠
Two years ago, Flint, Mich., started providing all women $1,500 during pregnancy, and $500 a month for a baby’s first year. The aim was to tackle a peak time for poverty, when many women cut back on work even as they face higher costs. The program has since expanded to 42 communities in the state.⁠
⁠
Now, a new study in “The Lancet Public Health” finds far fewer babies born prematurely or with low birthweight in Flint. That means saving millions in healthcare spending. Other research has found those mothers faced fewer evictions, less hunger and had better mental health. The pediatrician behind the program says there will also be long term benefits, since the first year of a child’s life is crucial for brain development.⁠
⁠
Check out NPR News Now wherever you listen to podcasts for more of today’s news.

Take us back. ✨

Hosted by Georgetown University School of Nursing @gtownnursing and NAABB, in partnership with a coalition of organizations, Centering Liberation brought together midwives, doulas, birth justice leaders, policymakers, and advocates from the U.S., the Caribbean, and across Africa.

We envisioned a future for reproductive and birth justice rooted in our collective wisdom, lived experience, and shared commitment to our communities.

We prayed. We laughed. We told the truth. We challenged the status quo. And we began shaping new pathways forward.

What happened in that room was powerful.

We can’t wait to share what’s next.

And today, flowers for the fathers too. 🌻💙

Your advocacy matters. Your steady presence during those long days and nights after birth matters. The role you play in supporting healthy Black families matters.

We see you. We appreciate you. Happy Father’s Day from NAABB with love. 🤲🏾

A delivery room in Denmark is going viral, and the conversation goes far beyond the design.

While delivery rooms vary across the country, Denmark provides universal, tax-funded healthcare to all registered residents, giving families access to maternity care without the financial barriers many face elsewhere.

Environment, access, and support all play a role in the birth experience. Imagine what greater investment in birthing spaces and maternal care could mean for birth outcomes in the U.S.

What are your thoughts? ⬇️

#Repost @yuliana.zabolotna

A statement. A commitment. A call to protect Black mothers, Black babies, and Black families.

Every purchase supports National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB) in helping fund our vital work to improve Black maternal health, expand access to Black midwives, and advocate for safe, equitable birthing experiences.

Wear your values. Start conversations. Link in bio. 💜

We're grateful to our Joy in Motion sponsors, @safeshoresdc, @AgroCultureusa, and @loisjefferscoaching, whose partnership helped bring this vision to life and continues to advance the movement for birth justice.

The word “Black” has been almost completely removed from a package of bills that have long been viewed as Congress’ main legislative vehicle to address the Black maternal health crisis, frustrating some advocates who feel Black women are being erased from the policy.

#Repost @iamlegallyhype
・・・
Can a Black maternal health bill that does not specifically mention Black women still address Black maternal health? Head to @capitalbnews for more on this story.

You deserve to know your rights, before, during, and after birth. 💜

Our celebrated Black Birthing Bill of Rights is now available as a tool that can be carried, shared, and used in real time. The Black Birthing Bill of Rights Card Deck was created to put power back into the hands of birthing people and those who support them. This 29-card, 4x6 deck comes in a custom box and serves as a beautiful, practical, and empowering tool for real-world care.

Order now - link in bio.

.pro-gallery-wix-wrapper {display: block !important;} .pro-gallery-wix-wrapper .gallery-item-container {opacity: 1 !important; display: block !important;}

Follow us on Instagram

@the_naabb

Advocating For Black Birth

National Association to Advance Black Birth

Who We Are

Black Birthing Bill of Rights

NAABB DISTRIBUTES $100,000 in Scholarships to DC Midwifery Students

Stay Connected. Stay Empowered.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Our Programs

Birth Justice Incubator & Fellowship

Midwifery Scholarship

Donate

Our Funders

​

Follow us on Instagram

Black Birthing
Bill of Rights

NAABB DISTRIBUTES
$100,000
in Scholarships to DC Midwifery Students

Birth Justice Incubator
& Fellowship

Midwifery
Scholarship