Despite the growing recognition of the birth justice movement, many funding efforts fail to honor its historical foundation in Black midwifery. This pattern of erasure mirrors what happened with the reproductive justice movement before SisterSong and scholar Loretta Ross’s 2006 writings cemented its origins. To avoid repeating history, funders must take an informed, values-based approach to investing in birth justice.
The Birth Justice Origins Project was created to document and preserve the movement’s history with “radical candor,” ensuring that current and future generations understand its deep roots in Black midwifery. Many birth justice advocates today lack awareness of this history—an issue that perpetuates underinvestment in Black midwifery and its critical role in birth justice.
The 2024 Birth Justice Landscape Analysis by Elephant Circle highlights funding inequities within the movement. Its Funder’s Field Guide to Birth Justice illustrates the need for philanthropy to confront how white supremacy shapes funding landscapes, processes, and decision-making.
Here, we call for the next step: centering Black midwifery as foundational to birth justice and ensuring that funding strategies reflect this history.
Resourcing birth justice with justice requires more than acknowledging history—it demands concrete investment in Black midwifery. Anti-Black policies historically disrupted access to midwifery care, creating the workforce shortages and funding inequities we see today.
Despite their proven impact, Black midwives and community birth centers remain critically underfunded, often forced to spend significant time grant-writing instead of focusing on care. As birth justice gains recognition and resources, ensuring the financial sustainability of Black midwife-led healthcare practices and training programs must be a top priority.
Midwifery care is holistic, healing, and humanistic. It has a rich herstory and legacy in communities of color.
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