MACON, Ga. — For some women it can be a challenging road to become a mother, but for black women is can be dangerous to become and stay a mother.
In a review, the Georgia Public Health Department said of all pregnancy-related deaths in the state from 2018 to 2020, Black women accounted for more than half of them.
Patricia Prime said the numbers prove we're in a crisis.
"If you don't understand that we have a maternal mortality crisis within our area let alone the state, there's no reason to change if you don't realize there's an issue," Prime said.
Prime is a mother, doula, and a registered nurse she works with mothers after they give birth. She said she wasn't surprised African American women are some of the most at-risk.
She said Black women already carry a lot.
"We lead the race when it comes to negative things," Prime said.
Those negative things cause stress, and Prime said that can cause diseases.
"We lead blood pressure issues. We lead diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses," Prime said.
Doctor Emeka Umerah practiced obstetrics for 20 years and is a gynecologist at the Women's Health Institute of Macon.
He said women without insurance don't get consistent check ups.
"They don't seek medical attention like they should. They tend to wait until things are really bad you know for them to now come to the doctor so that automatically puts that person at high risk," Umerah said.
Umerah said the majority of his client list is African American women because they want someone who looks like them.
"Definitely don't think there is enough African American representation in health care. For instance, in my class at medical school I think there were about 179 students and only about 14 Blacks," Umerah said.
The state's public health department said 89% of pregnancy related deaths had some chance of being prevented.
Prime lost her mother 21 days after she was born. She said if more attention comes to this crisis, we could better protect moms.
"If we could grasp that when someone in our family or in our circle becomes pregnant if we're given the tools, we may be able to prevent deaths," Prime said.
The North Central Health District which represents Macon-Bibb, Houston, Baldwin and Jones counties had the highest number of pregnancy-related deaths in the state between 2018 to 2020 with 11 out of 113 patients.