A year-long inquiry into racial injustice, carried out by Birthrights and law firm Leigh Day, has found that the safety of hundreds of women and birthing people from Black, Brown and mixed ethnicity backgrounds is being put at risk due to systemic racism within UK maternity care.
Birthrights' new report on the findings of their inquiry, Systemic Racism, Not Broken Bodies, reveals the devastating impact systemic racism within maternity care is having on Black, Brown, and mixed ethnicity women and birthing people’s safety, dignity, choice, autonomy, and equality – from individual interactions and workforce culture through to curriculums and policies.
Birth Companions supports Birthrights' five calls to action to drive forward concrete change, calling on all parts of the maternity system to:
- Commit to be an anti-racist organisation
- Decolonise maternity curriculums and guidance
- Make Black, Brown, and mixed ethnicity women and birthing people decision-makers in their care and the wider maternity system
- Create safe, inclusive workforce cultures
- Dismantle structural barriers to racial equity through national policy change
Find out more about Birthrights' inquiry into racial injustice, and read the full report here, and find the executive summary of their report here.
