Essence Gaines

I gave birth to my son in 2020, so over-medicated that I don’t remember my first moments with him. In that same year, over 55% of other black moms never got to meet their babies, having passed during childbirth. In 2024, I had my daughter, this time unmedicated entirely, because nurses didn’t believe me when I expressed my pain. My whispers became screams and I was ignored, even when they came to realize that my epidural had been placed incorrectly and slipped out of my back and the pain that I told them I’d been feeling had, indeed, been real. No apology was offered, no admission of fault, not even as I hemmoraged and bled out afterwards, missing out on that Golden Hour with my daughter. Black women in the United States are dying at a disproportionately high rate during childbirth compared to mothers of other races. In 2025, with as many technical and medical advances as we’ve made as a society, we are still dying at the same rate we were 50 years ago. As a mom, a daughter, a DONA Certified Birth Doula, and a black woman in America, I march to bring awareness to this epidemic that could be so easily solved. I march for Kira Johnson, Dreeah Austin, and Tori Bowie and the thousands of women like them. I march for every woman who has had a birth experience similar to mine, full of avoidable complications. I march for the black mamas and babies who never got to meet.