🤰🏾 Black women are more than 2.5 times more likely to die during childbirth than the national average. And the states with the worst maternal health outcomes are actively blocking the people best positioned to help. Black midwives in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi are now suing their states over regulations that make it nearly impossible to practice. The lawsuits target state laws requiring midwives to have expensive "collaborative practice agreements" with physicians — agreements many doctors refuse to sign — and regulations that force birthing centers to meet the same requirements as hospitals, despite handling only low-risk pregnancies. 🔗 Full story at blavity.com #Blavity #BlackMidwives #MaternalHealth #BlackWomensHealth