The Death of Sha-Asia Washington Show Racial Disparities Black Women Face in Childbirth
After carrying her baby for the last nine months, Sha-Asia Washington, 26, had looked forward to being a mother.
On July 2 Washington, went to Woodhull Medical Center in New York for a routine stress test. At the time she was a few days past her due date. After doctors noticed that her blood pressure was high, Washington was given a drug to induce labor.
She was asked if she wanted an epidural which she was unsure of, but later agreed, according to her family.
Juwan Lopez, her boyfriend, was was on FaceTime with his mother Desiree Williams when the situation started going downhill.
Washington was rushed into the operating room, leaving Lopez devastated and screaming. He could not figure out what was going on. It was in that moment, that he found out that the baby’s heart rate was dropping.
Washington went into cardiac arrest while doctors delivered her baby via c-section. Washington was pronounced dead after doctors spent 45 minutes trying to save her with CPR. Her newborn daughter Khloe, was healthy.
The death of Sha-Asia Washington has sparked outrage in the Black community, especially Black women.
Her death is shedding light on racial disparities Black women face when giving birth. Black women die at a rate three times higher than white women when giving birth.
In 2018, 658 women died of maternal causes in the U.S. A recent study showed Black women had a death rate of 40.8 per 100,000 births, three times higher than the rate of white women. American Indian and Native Alaskan women had the next highest rate at 29.7 deaths per 100,000 live births, more than double the rate in white women.
There are several reasons for the disparities, including systematic and institutional racism within the healthcare system, underlying health conditions (more common in Black mothers) and access to prenatal care.
Washington’s family is now seeking justice. A GoFundMe page has been set up and has now raised more than $88,000 to help with funeral costs and to support Lopez, who is now raising his daughter Khloe as a single father.
“WOODHULL HOSPITAL KILLED SHAASIA GIVING HER A EPIDURAL PLEASE HELP US GET JUSTICE,” said a description on the fundraiser page.
This also comes three months after Amber Rose Isaac, 26, died at Monterfiore Medical Center in the Bronx after expressing her concerns on how she had been getting treated from the hospital on Twitter.
Stand-up comedian Amy Schumer, is also using her platform to speak about the cases.
“We need to wake up and do better everyday,” she wrote, alongside flawless pregnancy photos of Washington and Lopez.
Washington’s family wants to raise awareness about what happened to her and other Black women who died in childbirth. Last Thursday the family gathered outside Woodhull Medical Center alongside friends and a group of New York City Doulas.
According to Washingtons’s future sister-in-law, Jasmin Lopez “If you know Sha-Asia she wanted to be a mom and she was gonna be an amazing one.”
Pictures from:
1. Rollingstone.com
2. Essence.com
Report: Juana Norales
Instagram: @juana.n_
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.