Week 1: Please silence your cell phones, and the movie will begin…

Tais M -

Hey everybody! Hope you’ve had a great week so far! 

As I said last week, I’ve planned to analyze Maternal Mortality Rates and research the Maternal Mortality situation specifically in DC. Since this was my first week, I haven’t been able to get into any video creating yet 🙁 . Mostly, I’ve spent my time researching the Maternal Mortality Crisis within the U.S. and planning out how my project will hopefully evolve.  

To start, I’ve been watching a documentary called Birthing Justice by Monique Matthews. From 2023, this film documents the struggles of African American women in the U.S. with Maternal Mortality, focusing both on the issues and the following advocacy. Specifically, it explores how maternal healthcare and racism within these fields have affected these women. It provides hope for improvement by acknowledging current (to 2023) legislation and the possibilities of increasing the numbers of midwives and nurses.  

While my project, unlike this film, does not majorly focus on minorities within the Maternal Mortality Crisis, this film provides information on the setting of this crisis. Additionally, the film also documents the changes that could be implemented to improve healthcare for all women. By most importantly, one of the four areas focused on in the film, was DC!! And as this film addressed the history of the crisis, people’s current experiences, data, and advocacy it was a perfect starting point.  

I’ve also put The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service, by Laura Kaplan, on hold at the library. I was going to just go and pluck it from the shelves, but, sadly, I was too late, and someone got there before me. The Story of Jane is the tale of the Jane Collective, which provided abortions before they were legalized in Roe v. Wade in 1973. I know this will be a fascinating read and I can’t wait for it to get to the library. During the rest of this week, I will continue adding to my research regarding the circumstance and situation of the Maternal Mortality Crisis within the U.S. and hopefully be able to start accumulating and analyzing MMR data in DC.  

Okay, that’s all! Enjoy your week!  

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    maia_b_v
    Wow! This movie sounds super interesting and I love how you're using different ways (documentary and books) to learn about Maternal Mortality Rates which differs from just analyzing a bunch of data. I can't wait to see what you have in store for next week once those book hogs give The Story of Jane back (hopefully they're fast readers!).
    March 19, 2025 at 2:52 pm - Reply
    amelia_s
    glad everything is working out for you so far! That book sounds super interesting, I'm looking forward to hearing about it! Did you learn anything especially interesting or shocking about the status of Maternal Mortality in the documentary?
    March 19, 2025 at 3:40 pm - Reply
      tais_m
      There were quite a few stories which shocked me as in them multiple women were told their concerns were invalid and normal when they were in fact life threatening. Though perhaps this is less shocking than I wish, and mostly just horrifying.
      March 27, 2025 at 10:22 pm - Reply
    Nathaniel Green
    Great stuff. Just beware of the checkbox related data skewing: https://www.science.org/content/article/data-duel-over-u-s-maternal-mortality You also might need to figure out when between 2003 and 2018 that DC implemented a change in death certificates.
    March 20, 2025 at 1:24 pm - Reply
    Anonymous
    Love the project so far! might have to snatch up that book once you're done, tell me if you'd reccomend it! I'm curious though, what kind of policy was the movie talking about implementing, and is it specific to the issue of maternal mortality among African American women or broader?
    March 20, 2025 at 6:38 pm - Reply
      elliot_d
      this was me! it logged me out of my account for some reason :(
      March 20, 2025 at 6:40 pm - Reply
        tais_m
        O hi!! I'm sorry it logged you out. About the book, I'll definitely tell you about it. And the legislation was the Momnibus Act, aimed to decrease Black Maternal Mortality. I have to do more research on it, but hopefully I'll blog about it soon!
        March 27, 2025 at 10:26 pm - Reply
    emerson_d
    Sounds like you’ve had a productive week! The documentary and book both seem like great resources. I’m excited to hear more as you dive deeper!
    March 23, 2025 at 4:21 pm - Reply
    akilah_q
    Great start! Birthing Justice sounds like a powerful documentary, and it’s awesome that you’re grounding your research in both history and current issues. The Story of Jane will definitely add depth—can’t wait to see how your analysis of DC’s maternal mortality rates develops!
    March 24, 2025 at 7:56 pm - Reply

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