Black Women Birthing Justice, a group based in Oakland, is putting together a much needed anthology about Black women, pregnancy and childbirth.
Details:
Birthing Justice – Saving Our Lives will be an anthology of critical essays and personal testimonies that explore African American, African, Caribbean and diasporic women’s experiences of childbirth from a radical social justice perspective. We seek writings by midwives, doulas, natural childbirth advocates, reproductive rights activists, moms and moms-to-be, sociologists, feminist and Africana studies scholars, and historians that document state control and medical violence against black pregnant women, revitalize our birthing traditions, and honor and record empowering and sacred birth experiences. We are particularly interested in essays that document activism and resistance.
Read more here, and consider submitting! Such an important conversation.
Radical Doula 
Miriam–
Thank you for enlightening us with your perspective on these debates. I agree with you about our failure as a society to look at hospitals (an institution that upholds white supremacist capitalist patriarchy) and also our failure to value or conduct evidence based research. I do appreciate your thoughts as you truly break us away from these dichotomous views about whether one thing is better than the other. I think you provide us with a better perspective because these mainstream debates always fail to critique what is at the heart of the matter: capitalism. How we as a society privilege money more than (infant and maternal) health. I always enjoy your blog. And I cannot wait to be a (radical) doula!
Just wanted to share, I have a 4 month old son, I chose to have him at a birth center run by certified nurse midwives (not a hospital). I had a really great experience there but I think it was due to my support system (my partner and doula). My hope is for the next time to have a home birth. I would not say I am anti-hospital but my grave mistrust for the ways that medical professionals lack the knowledge for maternal and infant health makes it hard for me to trust they will do right.
Thank you for your writing, courage and passion!
Con Fuerza,
Biany
in Philadelphia, PA