Recommended Reading
These resources are not intended to define or direct your personal pregnancy and birth journey, but rather to broaden your perspective on the realities of childbirth in the United States — particularly for women of color and communities whose experiences have historically been overlooked and marginalized.
Pregnancy and Birth
The Birthing Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions – Penny Simkin with Katie Rohs
The Mother of All Pregnancy Books – Ann Douglas
Social Justice and Inequities in Birth
The Pain Gap – Anushay Hossain
Adriana Corredor-Waldron, Janet Currie, and Molly Schnell, “Drivers of Racial Differences in C-Sections,” NBER Working Paper 32891 (2024), https://doi.org/10.3386/w32891.
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty – Dorothy Roberts
Other Good Reads
Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society – Arline T Geronimus
From Midwives to Medicine: The Birth of American Gynecology – Deborah Kuhn McGregor
Literature on Maternal Mortality
Garcia L. M. (2023). Obstetric violence in the United States and other high-income countries: an integrative review. Sexual and reproductive health matters, 31(1), 2322194. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2024.2322194
Davis D. A. (2019). Obstetric Racism: The Racial Politics of Pregnancy, Labor, and Birthing. Medical anthropology, 38(7), 560–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2018.1549389
Nelson, T. J., Butcher, B. D. C., Delgado, A., & McLemore, M. R. (2025). Perspectives of Certified Nurse-Midwives and Physicians on the Structural and Institutional Barriers that Contribute to the Reproductive Inequities of Black Birthing People in the San Francisco Bay Area. Journal of midwifery & women’s health, 70(4), 593–601. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmwh.13614
Howell E. A. (2018). Reducing Disparities in Severe Maternal Morbidity and Mortality. Clinical obstetrics and gynecology, 61(2), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1097/GRF.0000000000000349
Empowered support from pregnancy through birth
Bringing a new life into the world is transformative, joyful, and challenging. I provide continuous support designed to help you feel confident, informed, and cared for.
