Exclusive to ESSENCE: Maya Harris leads roundtable on black maternal health in Michigan, bringing focus to a national crisis – Essence

Maya Harris, the younger sister of Vice President Kamala Harris, is stepping into the spotlight to address a pressing issue that concerns many Black women across the country: maternal health. On Monday, September 23, she will moderate an important discussion in Flint, Michigan, an issue that is front and center this election season, as the Harris-Walz campaign highlights.

Given the growing threats to reproductive rights in America, the campaign says it is committed to protecting women’s right to choose while addressing the larger health disparities faced by Black women, particularly in the area of ​​maternal health care.

For this important roundtable, Maya Harris, a veteran attorney and senior policy adviser, will be joined by a group of national and local Black leaders, including Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, Paula Thornton Greear of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Danielle Atkinson, founder of the advocacy organization Mothering Justice, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.

Together, these leaders will address critical challenges facing Black maternal health and explore the potential challenges presented by Project 2025’s agenda. This discussion is part of the ongoing Harris-Walz “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour, which began in early September. The tour highlights the urgent need for action and awareness in this important area of ​​health care.

“From her time as a prosecutor to her work as Vice President, my sister Kamala Harris has always had one client: the people,” Maya shared in an exclusive statement to ESSENCE. “As Vice President, she made the Black maternal health crisis a priority and tackled inequality head-on. While Donald Trump travels the country boasting about overturning Roe v. Wade, which has exacerbated this crisis, Kamala will continue to forge a new path that includes signing legislation to restore Roe as soon as Congress passes it,” she said.

As ESSENCE previously reported, Vice President Harris responded sharply to Donald Trump’s defense of his abortion policy during the September 10 presidential debate. Harris stated, “The administration and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”

She described the difficult decisions women face, including medical complications and the need to travel to another state for an abortion. Trump, who appointed three Supreme Court justices responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, sought to portray his stance as more moderate, criticizing extreme abortion bans and advocating for exceptions in cases of rape, incest or endangering the life of the mother.

However, he was unapologetic about the repeal of federal abortion law, saying, “I did myself a great service by doing that. It took courage to do that.” Trump also repeated many of his familiar arguments. For example, he falsely claimed there was widespread support for returning abortion rights to the states and falsely accused Democrats of supporting late-term abortions. This included the false claim that some states allow abortions even after a baby is born. Moderator Linsey Davis immediately checked this and clarified: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after birth.”

The timing of this discussion about Black maternal health couldn’t be more crucial. Just a week ago, news broke about Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old Georgia mother who died in 2022 after being denied a necessary medical procedure following a complication due to the state’s restrictive abortion laws. ProPublica said the case was the first case of an abortion-related death that an official state committee deemed “preventable” to be made public.

Her death highlights the serious consequences this policy has, especially for black women, who are more than three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women in the United States.

To further build momentum for change, the Global Coalition for Transnational Solidarity and Action to Bridging the Maternal Health Gap for Women and Girls of African Descent was officially launched on 18 September at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in New York.

This initiative, supported by several countries including the United States, aims to improve the health of black women, which is already compromised by systemic racism in the health care system and is further compromised by restrictions on abortion rights. The maternal health crisis is no longer a distant political debate – it is a matter of life and death for black mothers and their families.

For the Harris-Walz campaign, Flint, Michigan, is a key stop on the Harris-Walz bus tour, which kicked off Sept. 3 in Palm Beach, Florida, where a near-total ban on abortion recently went into effect. With over 50 stops planned in key states, including Michigan, the tour is designed to motivate and mobilize its supporters and remind them of what is at stake if reproductive freedoms are not restored.