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accessHealthNews.net
April 2025
Volume 11 | Issue No. 95
Mary Beth Taranow, a retired operating room nurse
A new webinar series highlights how failing
to address the historical exploitation and
oppression of Black women, girls, and
gender expansive people directly drives
higher rates of deaths and near deaths.
"The Intersection of Misogynoir, Obstetric
Racism, and HIV," a three-part series
featuring speaker Karen A. Scott, MD,
MPH, FACOG, identifies how structural
and societal power imbalances not
only destroy self-worth but in doing so,
negatively impact physical health.
Dr. Scott is the chief Black feminist
physician scientist, founding CEO, and
owner of Birthing Cultural Rigor, LLC.
Over the last 12 months, she acted as
maternal quality improvement expert for
the Black Mamas Matter Alliance, where
she continued to learn how negative self-
image and societal perceptions of Black
women especially have helped create
gaps in equitable sexual and reproductive
health care.
Throughout the series, Dr. Scott offers
a deep dive into the history of Black
women's reproductive and sexual health
care and the role structures, systems,
and social determinants of health play in
preventing equitable care. "We as Black
women, girls, and gender expansive
people are not pathologically designed
to die or nearly die from sex, reproduction,
pregnancy, or childbirth," Dr. Scott said.
"We must always trace back to the origins,
which always go back to slavery."
READ MORE
"Black women choosing to live is resistance. Black
women choosing ourselves is resistance. Black women
choosing joy is resistance. Black women loving black
women is resistance. Anyone loving black women is
resistance. Black women being is resistance. I am
resistance simply because I'm here."
- Kimberly McCrae (Gaubault)
