Tatyana Ali and Charles Johnson from 4Kira4Moms spoke about the need for doulas, paternal involvement and birthing experiences. In 2020, Ali wrote an op-ed for Essence titled “Birthright” on the realities of Black maternity and how it shaped her bearing her son.

“The birth of my first son, three years ago, went completely off script. For reasons that I have come to know are pretty much textbook, my low-risk pregnancy resulted in extremely questionable actions on the part of those attending and an emergency C-section. My labor was harried, filled with people I didn’t know screaming at me,” she wrote.

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