Reproductive Justice, Black Maternal Health, and the Critical Role of Social Work

Background and Purpose:

Black birthers in the U.S. are three times as likely to die during childbirth than their white peers. These unacceptable racialized disparities continue to be documented, yet persist. Addressing Black maternal health requires expanding our understanding to focus on the experiences of Black birthers. Social workers are well-positioned to support an enhanced understanding of Black maternal health by centering reproductive justice (RJ).

The present study replicates Liddell's (2018) review of social work research focused on RJ. It is the first replication of Liddell’s study and extends her methodology to account for how the RJ literature in social work centers Black birthers and considers antiblackness while also examining articles published during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods:

In this systematic review, the 50 top-ranked journals (based on the “SCImago Journal Rank and Country Rank” impact factors) across three databases (Web of Science, PubMed, and Social Work/Services Abstracts) were searched to ensure a comprehensive approach. Each of the three databases was searched for peer-reviewed full-text articles, published in English between 1994 and 2022 which include the term,“reproductive justice,” (RJ) in the body of the article. The search returned 27 full-text peer-reviewed articles.

Like Liddell, the search strategy for the current study remained focused on RJ in the top 50 SW journals and the inclusion criteria focused on evaluating articles related to their inclusion of (1) a substantive discussion of RJ and (2) the critical role/implications for social work. This study expands Liddell’s study by including articles published between 2019 and 2022, which offers insight into the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic context. It also focuses on the extent to which they (3) center Black birthers and (4) evaluate uses of antiblackness principles/logics.

Results:

Of the total 27 articles returned in the search, the majority were published in Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work(40.7%) and in the Journal of Marriage and Family (14.8%). Only eight (29.6%) met review criteria by engaging substantively with RJ tenets. Of these eight, methodologies range from critical ethnography, policy analysis, and survey, but the majority (67%) were qualitative while 33% were quantitative.

Of these eight, six articles (67%) contain substantial discussions of RJ (i.e., attributed the framework to Black women and discussed the history of reproductive violence against Black people). Four articles (50%) partially focus on Black birthing people; one (12.5%) centers Black birthers. None focus solely on Black experience and none address antiblack logics in the field and profession of social work.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest the need for a call to action and engagement in the Black maternal health discourse among social work practitioners and scholars. There is a need for a greater focus on Black experience in social work and the profession is well-positioned to engage in the Black Maternal Health discourse. Partnering with RJ organizations to develop a Black Maternal Health Caucus in social work. Developing a curriculum for a course on Black Maternal Health and the Role of Social Work may also raise awareness of and encourage research on this critical issue.