Baby Dove is Helping Black Birthing People Access Doula Services
Baby Dove will provide grants worth $1,300 to 190 Black birthing people seeking doula services through its Black Birth Equity Fund.
The company announced the launch Tuesday in partnership with Black Mamas Matter Alliance, an organization dedicated to shifting birth outcomes and maternal health for Black mothers.
The initiative, which Baby Dove established with a $250,000 donation, is meant to provide immediate care to Black pregnant individuals in the third trimester. The grants will be given out over the next six months to help them access the life-changing support of a doula.
Black women in the United States are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth-related complications that white women. They have long faced significant maternal health disparities due to systemic racism in health care.
“This is happening to Black women regardless of their socioeconomic status, background or education.”
Black Mamas Matter Alliance Executive Director Angela D. Aina
Doulas help improve birth outcomes. An Evidence Based Birth study shows that they decrease Cesarean births by 39 percent and increase non-induced vaginal births by 15 percent. While they will not deliver babies, these trained professionals offer support for the birthing parent before, during and after pregnancy. Their services aren’t often covered by health insurance.
“Doulas provide services that go beyond what’s provided in a health care center or hospital, far beyond what clinicians even have the time to do,” BMMA Executive Director Angela D. Aina told TODAY.
To be eligible for the Black Birth Equity Fund grant, applicants must be Black, reside in the U.S., pregnant in the third trimester and be in need of a birth, postpartum or antepartum doula. Baby Dove started has already began accepting applications and will select winners once a month.