‘Fallout’: A film that explores the unequal maternal mortality rate for black women in the United States and its potential exacerbation after the abolition of the right to abortion.

With the repeal of the Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion in the United States, the battlefield for access to abortion has now shifted to the states, even though this country has the worst maternal mortality rates of all wealthy countries. The maternal mortality rate for black women is three to four times higher than the national average. A new documentary examines the maternal mortality crisis for black women through the case of two young black women who died after childbirth. Post Traumatic Stress (AF) is co-directed by Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Islett who join us today to analyze the transit of black women through a health system built against them, as well as efforts to reduce racial disparities. “We know that the health of black women and their children is a sign of the health of the country,” Lee says. “In a system that puts profits before people, doesn’t listen and doesn’t focus on the people who give birth, black women are hurt more because of the systemic racism that’s ingrained in our system,” Esselt adds.
To learn more about it, check out our conversation with Tonya Lewis Lee and Paula Esselt.