Why I don't want children
By Bianca Matthews
This post is part of a series of opinion pieces in diverse mediums focusing on the theme “What makes you mad about global health?” These submissions are by McGill students who were part of the course PPHS 511 Fundamentals of Global Health in Fall 2021.
Every women that I’ve known,
who looks like me
Has a horror story stowed away,
of how her child came to be
and,
I just don’t understand why:
My race has to determine my possible destiny
Because I thought a child was a gift?
Why my life as the sacrifice,
for a child I haven’t met?
All because my pain is
overlooked
Non-justifiable
Non-existent
But yet an overabundance of white mothers with their white babies
Birth stories consisting of mere cold sweats.
Undervalued by the very people who are meant to keep me alive
Why do I have to be afraid that I could possibly die at thirty-five
Because I thought a child was a gift?
It’s fate bestowed upon me before my
Mind is even made
Before the options have been weighed
In a casket, I do not wish to lay
So I am taking the power back
Because a child is clearly not my gift
Explanation
There are major discrepancies in the quality of health care across racial groups like black women being three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women. Black women in the United States (and in general) continue to experience disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality due to societal, systemic, and health system factors that have been present for hundreds of years. It not only makes me upset because I shouldn’t have to be scared to have children because of the risk of preventable death, but other people should be upset too because this just means that we aren’t actually making substantial progress with our health care and systemic practices (especially for marginalized communities). This means some policy is needed to address this.
Acknowledgments:
We would like to thank Professor Madhukar Pai for setting and sharing this assignment results with us and the teaching assistants Alexandra Jaye Zimmer, Lavanya Huria and Angie Sassi for their support in coordinating the results.