April Valentine wrote down the future she envisioned and read it aloud each morning.
A recent photo of her affirmation board showed Valentine’s most recent additions. They include:
“I will have a healthy baby. I will have a healthy and beautiful pregnancy. I will not have any complications. I will have a good birthing experience. I will have a vaginal birth naturally with a little to no pain.”
The 31-year-old Inglewood woman died at Centinela Hospital Medical Center on Tuesday, Jan. 10. Her daughter Aniya was born by emergency cesarean section.
Valentine’s death underscores a critical shortcoming of the U.S. healthcare system. Black mothers and babies are more likely to die in childbirth or experience life-threatening complications than white, Latino, or Asian people. In California, Black people die from pregnancy complications at a rate nearly four times higher than the general population.
About this story
-
This story talks about the death of a pregnant Black woman in childbirth and disparities in maternal and infant health.
-
If you’d prefer to explore resources about navigating pregnancy, we’ve gathered some here.
-
You might notice this story uses the term pregnant or birthing people. That’s because our newsroom uses language in reproductive health that includes people of different genders who can give birth.
-
To see a full explanation of our language choices, check out Dialogue, LAist’s style guide, and give us feedback.
“Me and Aniya, we’ll get stronger over the situation, but it’ll never get better,” said Nigha…
Read the full article here
