Jodie Turner-Smith Gave Birth At Home Due To ‘Systematic Racism’

Jodie Turner-Smith and her husband, Joshua Jackson, welcomed a baby girl in April. 

The Queen & Slim star recently opened up about why she made the decision to give birth to her child at home. 

In the September 2020 issue of British Vogue, Jodie revealed it was the maternal mortality rate of black women in the U.S. that influenced her decision to have an at-home birth with her husband by her side. 

According to the [CDC], the risk of pregnancy-related deaths is more than three times greater for black women than for white women, pointing, it seems to me, to systemic racism.

We never imagined that in the coming weeks, hospitals around the country would begin restricting who could be present in the birthing rooms, forcing mothers to deliver without the support person or people of their choice.

Delivering at home ensured that I had what every single woman deserves to have: full agency in determining my birth support.

Jodie Turner-Smith also credits her husband for being extremely supportive through her four days of labor.

Both of us had watched our own mothers struggle to raise children without such support. Both of us were determined to create something different for ourselves. He kept saying to me, ‘There’s no part of this that I’m going to miss.’ And there wasn’t. 

Congrats to the happy couple. 

Source: Page Six