“There were failures of systems, failure of protocol, but really we are talking about a failure of empathy.” This was what Charles Johnson told me when I interviewed him for “Saving Moms,” a documentary I was producing for KCET.
Charles lost his wife, Kira during post-delivery complications following the birth of their second son. I first heard his story at USC’s Black Mothers Matter panel in 2019. In 2018, I’d read Linda Villarosa’s story in the New York Times Magazine entitled: “Why are Black mothers and babies in the United States dying at more than double the rate of white mothers and babies?”
As a Black woman who had two high-risk pregnancies, I was shocked to learn how dangerous it was for Black women in America to have children. With the help of my all-female doctors, both my boys were born safely, but without proper care, it could have been close.
When I heard Charles talk about his wife’s death that evening, it enraged me. Kira had been allowed to suffer needlessly for 10 hours. She was healthy, educated and had resources, but those things did not save her. When she finally went into surgery, it was too late.
As a broadcast journalist, I needed to do this story. Charles returned home to Georgia. Then the pandemic struck. I didn’t see him again for three years. When I finally interviewed Charles, I apologized for asking him to tell this story again.
He said he relives the story every day and asks himself, “What could I have done differently?” “Should I have gotten more vocal, grabbed somebody?” But Kira and Charles both knew that as a Black man, his options were limited. Kira pleaded with Charles to stay calm so that he would not be removed from the hospital.
Charles has turned pain into action. He is now an involved father and a maternal healthcare advocate. Charles has been to Capitol Hill over 20 times speaking before Congress and lobbying on behalf of the Black Momnibus Act—a set of bills that to diversify the workforce, support prenatal and postpartum care, pay for doulas and midwives and improve implicit and explicit anti-bias training. He’s helped raise the ceiling for malpractice coverage insurance in California, so doctors who make big mistakes can be held accountable.
I learned that while Black maternal deaths outnumber other groups, White women in America have worse outcomes than White women in other high-resourced countries. Clearly, we have a problem of system failure and bias.
I met with doulas, midwives, ob/gyns, birthing parents, the surgeon general of California and the director of California’s Maternal Quality Care Collaborative. The Collaborative has helped California reduce maternal mortality by over 50%. We have a long way to go, but other states can learn from the new approaches in California.
Charles is right. The shortened life of Kira and so many others cannot go in vain. A maternal revolution is happening America. It’s one we all must support.
Watch “Saving Moms” on the PBS app or kcet.org/bonnie