March 10, 2026
The Forum’s first session in a series prepared for Women’s History Month posed this question:
Why are Black women still dying in childbirth in the United States?
Presenter was Danette McLaurin Glass, Managing Principal and Senior Strategist of First TEAM America and Chair of the Center for Family and Community Wellness. Joining her was U.S. Rep. Alma S. Adams, a longtime advocate of legislation in Congress to improve maternal health.
For Danette McLaurin Glass, maternal advocacy is deeply personal.
Her story began with her own mother, an elementary school principal in Charlotte who faced workplace discrimination during pregnancy.
At the time, pregnant women were often required to resign from their jobs, unable to work while expecting.
But she said the Charlotte community rallied around her mother, pushing back against the policy and making it possible for her to continue working during pregnancy, give birth to Danette, and return to her position afterward. Danette became the first child born under that new precedent.
A Charlotte native, graduate of West Charlotte High School, a Duke University attendee and a Cornell University alumna, Glass said she closed a career in the hotel industry to advance equity for families across the Southeast. Her passion for maternal health advocacy intensified during her time working in Atlanta.
Today, she develops nationally recognized simulation experiences that train healthcare providers and communities to understand the impact of childhood trauma, pregnancy complications and maternal health disparities.
A preventable crisis
According to Center for Disease Control statistics Glass presented, more than 80% of maternal deaths in the United States are preventable. The crisis is not mysterious, she said.
“The crisis facing Black women’s health is not a mystery. It is the predictable result of longstanding inequities in healthcare, social conditions and the stress of navigating systems that too often fail to protect us.”
In North Carolina alone, an average week sees 2,309 babies born, 252 of them preterm, 218 with low birthweight.
Glass noted that the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has stopped collecting trend data on maternal mortality. “If they stop the data,” she warned, “they don’t care about the problem.”
Glass then presented a video about maternal deliveries gone awry. That material is in the video above at minutes 17:20 to 25:20.
Stress and structural inequality
Disparities in maternal delivery outcomes are not rooted in biology but in systems, Glass said. Chronic stress caused by racism, environmental conditions and healthcare barriers can lead to complications such as preeclampsia, premature birth, low-birthweight infants and maternal mortality
Black mothers are four times more likely to experience severe maternal health outcomes than white mothers. The issue, she said, lies at the intersection of stress, access to care, and social determinants of health.
Adams pushes policy solutions
Congresswoman Alma Adams has spent years advocating for legislation aimed at improving maternal health outcomes. Among her efforts is the Kira Johnson Act, named after a Black mother who died due to preventable complications after childbirth. Other bills introduced aimed to improve hospital accountability, nfund community-based maternal health organizations, strengthen data collection on maternal outcomes, expand maternal mental health resources, improve healthcare for incarcerated mothers and develop innovative payment models for maternal care
Adams also supported the creation of a national maternal mental health hotline, an initiative developed alongside advocates like Glass.
So far, only one of thirteen maternal health bills she introduced – the Women Who Serve Act – has passed and been signed into law.
Adams emphasized that policy must go beyond discussion. “We can’t just talk about the problem.”
She also criticized federal budget cuts that reduce healthcare access.
Referring to a recent proposal affecting Medicare and social support programs, she warned:
“They call it beautiful—but it only hurts beautiful people.”
Cuts to programs affecting housing, transportation, nutrition, and healthcare – all key social determinants of health – can directly impact prenatal care access, she said.
Building respectful maternity care
Glass advocates for a healthcare system built on respectful maternity care, where patients are treated with dignity regardless of race, income, or reproductive history.
Her work includes developing simulation training programs that allow healthcare professionals to experience maternal health challenges from the patient’s perspective.
Another simulation is scheduled for April at UNC Charlotte.
Her organization also launched HEART – Health Education Advocacy Resources and Training, a program created to identify root causes of infant mortality and improve birth outcomes.
A call to action
If outcomes are to change, Glass said, the system itself must change. Healthcare training, patient advocacy, and community engagement must evolve together. “To change outcomes, we must change how we prepare, engage, and respond.”
She urged communities to invest in experiential learning for healthcare providers, strengthen health literacy among families, elevate patient advocacy and transform maternal care systems.
“The question is not what should change – but who will lead the change. Let it be us….”
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Zhateya Jones used AI in the preparation of this article for her magazine. It is used here with her permission.