Birthing Justice Documentary Screening

Released in 2022, the documentary Birthing Justice Jan. 5, brought a full house of attendees to the Cinemark Theater in West Los Angeles. The feature length film discusses the causes of the maternal health crisis in the African American community and advocates for the most effective practices to raise birthing equity for all women — especially Black women.

Advocates and leaders behind Birthing Justice describe their work as a movement which aims to “fix the broken (maternal healthcare) system, change the culture and transform the future. 

Executive producer of the film, Allyson Felix, is also the most decorated American track and field Olympian. Felix said, “We should care about every woman, and I think you know a Black woman’s pain a black woman’s suffering gets discarded. It cannot go on that way. It’s crucial that we pay attention. We do more than see statistics but understand how we go about fixing the issue. It starts at the core with Black wom(e)n. We are at the center of it all and we deserve to be heard, we’re worthy and it’s about time that you know others step up and stand alongside us as we fight this issue.”

Highlighting the progress made through health initiatives and most effective practices, the film focuses on what’s being done to address this national crisis and provides solutions that can be replicated in communities across the country. Executive producer, co-writer and co-founder of Women in the Room Productions, Denise Pines, said they are partnering with organizations, colleges and universities (locally at USC and UCLA), sororities, foundations and government offices to host free screenings around the country.

The event included a panel discussion moderated by KBLA 1580-AM Talk Radio host, Dominique DiPrima, Allyson Felix, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell and Martin Luther King Community Hospital President, Dr. Elaine Batchlor, all of whom are featured in the film.

The panel discussion addressed major points in the film, including implicit racial bias, the lack of African American medical professionals and subsequent reduction of African American medical schools after the Flexner Report published in 1910 (which has been criticized for introducing policies that encouraged systemic racism and the return  to male-only admittance programs in American universities to accommodate a smaller admission pool). The panel also discussed how women of color saw improved birthing outcomes through treatment by Black and Brown health care professionals. Further, the documentary identifies the benefits of doulas and midwives, in addition to physicians, as part of the birth experience.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said, “We talk about equity. It’s acknowledging that there was a huge region that didn’t have some of those core fundamental public benefits. A hospital. A health clinic system …That’s equity versus equality. I think COVID has pulled off the blinders for the entire world to acknowledge that we have massive, massive inequalities in our county, in our state, in our country and now we have an opportunity, and a responsibility to fix that.”

Birthing Justice screenings are taking place across the country. For more information or to find out how to host a screening, visit https://www.birthingjustice.com/ to complete and submit a request form.

Time: 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., Jan. 27

Cost: Free

Details: https://www.birthingjustice.com

Venue: The Miracle Theater, 226 S Market St., Inglewood