Paper short abstract:

Recognition of worrying racial disparities in maternal and newborn outcomes has prompted more routine, early interventions. Drawing on 2 research studies and risk theory, I will discuss how changes intended to address disparities in outcomes may engender neglect through treating PoC as risky bodies.

Paper long abstract:

After a long period of inattention, the disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes in Britain have become a focus of concern. Mortality monitoring systems show significant differences in risk of poor outcomes for Black and South Asian women and their babies and qualitative studies and surveys have highlighted less positive experiences of care. This is not a new phenomenon – in the late 1990s our research reported that these women had worse experiences of care or informed choices and that greater continuity of midwifery carer could help to address this problem. Now that disparity is being given attention in the media, in research and in health services, there has been a shift to increase medicalisation – for example, routine early induction of labour. The concept of maternal vulnerability is deployed with good intentions, but in-effect locates vulnerability in the person rather than in the structural and social context that shapes health. Activist groups have criticised medical actions to address disparities for treating people-of-colour (as well as poor women) as ‘risky bodies’ without consideration of the impact of socio-political environments on their health and wellbeing, or the impact of racism in everyday life and in care encounters. I will draw on two of our recent studies, one focused on induction of labour and the other on a group model of antenatal care, plus anthropological risk theory to discuss critically the direction of health actions to address disparities and ask, are the most important issues being neglected?