A doula and mother of six speaks out on the injustice of Black maternal mortality rates

Black women face maternal mortality rates three times higher than white women.

To feel more supported, a growing number of Black women and birthing people are enlisting doulas — a professional labor assistant that supports the birthing parent and their partner throughout the pregnancy and delivery. For birthing doula Chanel Porchia-Albert, founder of Ancient Song Doula Services in Brooklyn, using a doula for her first pregnancy thirteen years ago completely changed the course of her life.

After a successful delivery, Porchia-Albert felt inspired to learn more about doulas and how they enhance the birthing experience. Based on a recommendation from her own birthing team, Portia-Albert attended a doula training that she says completely altered how she viewed the birthing experience.

In 2008, Albert founded Ancient Song Doula Services, an international doula certifying organization committed to eliminating the infant mortality & maternal morbidity rate by helping families to make informed decisions about their care. In addition to training doulas, the organization provides support to expectant parents during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum. They even provide aftercare for families who have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth.

“I started to see the way that Black birthing people and Black women were treated during their birthing experience. The ways in which racism played a role in our birth outcome. The ways in which our body wasn't centered or our voice was not heard. I wanted to create that same level of energy and warmth and joy that I felt when I was in the experience. I think a lot of times we are looking for our purpose in life, that was my purpose. "

Porchia-Albert, now a mother of six children, remembers how her own doula listened to her concerns and was innately attuned to the cultural dynamics and experiences that Porchia-Albert was bringing into her birth experience as a Black woman. When Portia-Albert takes on a new client, she ensures they are heard. She takes their history into account, including possible substance abuse issues and past sexual traumas. Her goal is to offer support specifically tailored to the birthing person, even those who are adopting or are incarcerated.

Video Transcript

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. Today, I'll talk to a birthing doula and mother of six who has made it her mission to eliminate inequalities in maternal health. I'm Brittany Jones-Cooper, and this is "Unmuted." Today I'm joined by Chanel Porchia-Albert, the founder of Ancient Song Doula Services.

You're a doula, but you're also a mother of six. So can you take me back to your very first pregnancy and what that experience was like for you?

CHANEL PORCHIA-ALBERT: Coming from a place where I lost my mom when I was 14 years old, I didn't have anyone to really, like, ask questions. I had happened upon a natural birth expo in Union Square. I found a Black midwife and a doula there. And the first words that came out of my mouth was, I didn't even know Black midwives still existed. Everything I had seen was from a historical perspective.

Black midwives had always centered Black birthing people and their experiences in being enslaved on plantations, really supporting families. I didn't know that we still did this. Like, you know. And she was like, oh, no, we're still here. Full spectrum doulas are doulas who will support someone through their prenatal period through birth, postpartum. And it was everything I could have imagined.

She really centered myself, my partner, gave us a space to be able to openly think about how we wanted to create a family, what does that look like, cultural dynamics, also understanding the things that we bring with us into a birthing experience. It was something that forever changed my life and my career path as well.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: So you changed your career path to become a doula. You founded Ancient Song Doula Services in 2008. What was that journey like?

CHANEL PORCHIA-ALBERT: I had this beautiful birthing experience. Went to my midwife and my doula. They gave me a recommendation for a doula training. It was like Black women, and elders, and, like, healers. It wasn't just me taking a training. It was me sitting in on, like, a moment of ancestral remembrance of, like, who I was, what it means to have a community of support. That training was completely transformative.

I started to see the ways in which Black birthing people and Black women were treated during their birthing experience, the ways in which racism played a role in our birth outcomes, the ways in which our bodily autonomy was centered or our voice was not heard. I wanted to create that same level of energy, and love, and warmth, and joy that I felt when I was in the experience. I think a lot of times we are looking for our purpose in life. That was my purpose.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: It seems like Black women are inundated with these horrible statistics about Black maternal mortality. Why do you think that's the case?

CHANEL PORCHIA-ALBERT: The system was never really set up to be able to support us. Before, we didn't even have access to go into the hospital. So we think about desegregation, and you're saying, OK, now you can go into these spaces. But then the people that there were never really taught what does it mean to care for Black bodies. The ways in which medical physicians, nurses, anyone who comes in contact with someone who's pregnant, they need to reframe and rethink the way in which they deliver care.

I'm taking into account what is their history like, have they experienced past sexual trauma, do they have something going on with substance usage, are they incarcerated-- because I work with incarcerated pregnant people. We're talking about a role that's centered in advocacy, of birth justice and the reproductive justice framework. We're talking about a human rights framework and understanding what does it mean for you to center your autonomy within a space that historically has not centered you.

What does it mean for someone to come into a space, and to be heard, and to have someone to ask them questions and say, like, what do you want for your birth? We're helping them to feel like they have the tools that they need so they can make an informed decision about their care, as opposed to feeling like things are happening to you.

BRITTANY JONES-COOPER: I think it is so important to be empowering Black women in their pregnancy journey, so just thank you for all the work that you're doing.

CHANEL PORCHIA-ALBERT: Thank you so much. Everybody should have the opportunity to have a doula if they want one. I want my children to grow up in a space where they can feel like they have the tools that they need that are necessary to make their own reproductive life choices. To me, that's just a calling from the ancestors and from the Most High.