Supporting Respectful Childbirth is Commonsense
Midwife Jennie Joseph shares how her personal experience shaped her path to providing dignified, supportive, and respectful care to all throughout pregnancy and beyond.
In a compassionate society, it almost sounds obvious: anyone capable of becoming pregnant and giving birth deserves quality care that ensures they are heard, respected, and safe.
But obvious or not, deep structural barriers are preventing this from happening. As a result, people of color; immigrants, especially those without legal documentation; and people without health insurance face chilling obstacles. Black women are 2.5 times more likely to die in childbirth than White women and death rates are trending upward. Poor or indifferent communication fosters the kind of horrendous experience Jaira Valencia had shortly after giving birth, when a nurse asked bluntly if she wanted her baby to die on a machine or in her arms—without ever explaining what was wrong with the newborn.
Jennie Joseph audiogram.
Stories like that have prompted Jennie Joseph to declare a state of emergency. A certified professional midwife for more than four decades, Joseph rejects any maternal health system that perpetuates disparities and disrespect. She is among the leaders of Black-led efforts to build a different one. As founder of the Commonsense Childbirth, Inc., she helps teach midwives, doulas, community health workers, perinatal and lactation educators, and others who are determined to end racial disparities in maternal and child health outcomes and serve their communities. The first Black person to open a private, nationally accredited school of midwifery in the United States, Joseph also leads the National Perinatal Task Force, a grassroots coalition that creates perinatal “safe spots” to support pregnant people and families.
From Devastation to Hope
Her commitment to honoring those who are bringing new life into the world is rooted in her own trauma. At age 30, Joseph consulted a physician about a gynecological issue that was in no way life-threatening and was quickly urged to have her uterus and ovaries removed. “I went literally like a sheep to the slaughter,” she recalls, mourning the event.
This ordeal was a pivotal moment in Jennie Joseph’s life that drives her determination to prevent the harms being done to people of color. The Commonsense Childbirth approach to providing prenatal and birthing care draws on the legacy of the indigenous and immigrant midwives who delivered so many babies at home during the slavery era and well beyond. Known as the JJ Way, it is built on respect, support, education, encouragement, and empowerment.
The JJ Way® focuses on seven practices that reduce disparities and improves health outcomes for Black mothers. Source: Commonsense Childbirth website.
The warmth evident at Jennie Joseph’s birthing center is proof positive that these principles are being put into practice. Jaira Valencia’s experience as a patient there was worlds apart from what had happened to her when she lost her firstborn. After becoming pregnant again, Valencia was strongly advised to have a C-section. Instead, she found her way to Commonsense Childbirth. Although the clinic recognized the risk of complications, it was able to offer the right mix of medical care and support to allow for a vaginal birth—and gave her an infant girl who weighed a healthy 13 pounds when she reached six weeks of age.
Midwifery remains Joseph’s passion, not merely a profession but a calling. “It has given me that fighting spirit that says every person deserves this type of care, this type of support… marginalized folk, people of color, low-income folk, uninsured people, undocumented people.” Beyond delivering healthy babies, she is leaning into the energizing spirit of midwifery to educate the generations that will follow her. In that, she finds both joy and power. “I do this work because I love it,” she says. “I don’t know how to do anything else. And I don’t want to do anything else.”
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