BJP NYC 05: These Waters Run Deep: Bronx-Based Midwifery and Maternal Health with Carmen Mojica

Black Women's Dept. of Labor

Season 1 Episode 5 features an interview with Carmen Mojica. We discuss her journey into birthwork and motherhood, the history and current practice of midwifery, and what it will take to achieve birth justice in the Bronx and in New York City.
Carmen Mojica Bio:
Carmen Mojica CPM, LM CLC is an Afro-Dominicana born and raised in the Bronx. She is a midwife, mother, writer and reproductive health activist. The focus of her work is on the empowerment of women and people of the African Diaspora, specifically discussing the Afro-Latina identity. She utilizes her experience as a midwife to raise awareness on maternal and infant health for women, highlighting the disparities in the healthcare system in the United States for women of color. She is a cofounder of Bronx Rebirth and Progress.

References During the Episode:

• Donate to Bronx Rebirth and Progress via PayPal and through their registry on Target
• Pregnancy and Postpartum in the time of COVID-19: NYC Resources
• [Book] Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy and Childbirth edited by Julia Oparah and Alicia Bonaparte
• [Book] Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts
• [Book] Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington
• [Book] Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner
• Types of midwives: Certified Midwife, Certified Nurse Midwife, Certified Professional Midwife,
• Certifying institutions: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM)
• Robert Woods Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings and Road Maps

Questions to Consider After the Episode:

• How can we make midwifery more accessible in our City, namely Certified Nurse Midwives?
• What are ways our City can provide resources for people to give birth outside of hospitals? This can be in people’s homes and in birthing centers.
• How can we shift conversations that focus solely on maternal mortality to take a look at the broad scope of how maternal healthcare is not serving the needs of pregnant and birthing people overall?

Created and Hosted by Taja Lindley
Produced by Colored Girls Hustle
Music, Soundscape and Audio Engineering by Emma Alabaster
Support our work on Patreon or make a one-time payment via PayPal
For more information visit BirthJustice.nyc
This podcast is made possible, in part, by the Narrative Power Stipend - a grant funded by Forward Together for members of Echoing Ida.

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1. BJP NYC 05: These Waters Run Deep: Bronx-Based Midwifery and Maternal Health with Carmen Mojica (00:00:00)

2. Coming into birthwork (00:05:12)

3. Distinctions: between types of midwives, between a doula and midwife (00:20:00)

4. A brief history of midwifery in the United States (00:27:19)

5. Stigma of midwifery (00:32:57)

6. Midwifery model of care (00:39:26)

7. Midwifery in hospital settings (00:46:14)

8. NYC birth inequity (00:52:41)

9. Bronx birth inequity (01:02:38)

10. Midwifery and birth support practices during COVID (01:06:39)

11. Addressing and eradicating health inequity (01:13:35)

12. Parenting and working during COVID (01:18:09)

13. Healing journeys and parenting (01:21:20)