Black Infant Mortality Continues to Worsen as Trump Halts Reproductive Healthcare Funds Over DEI Concerns
Today I awoke to two different headlines in my inbox:
Black Infants Continue to Face Significantly Greater Mortality Risk Than White Infants — Healio
Trump Administration Plans to Freeze Family Planning Grants — WSJ
While these headlines may seem only tangentially connected at first glance, they represent a dire threat to Black mothers and babies when you dig deeper.
The first article discusses the widening gap between infant mortality rates in Black vs white infants. In the 1950s, the infant mortality rate in Black infants was 92% higher than white infants (horrendous). In the 2010s, that number increased to 115% (beyond horrendous). So despite advances in medicine and reduction of overall infant mortality nationwide, Black babies and their parents are being left behind.
The second article details a freeze on “tens of millions of dollars” in federal grants awarded to reproductive healthcare providers. These grants fund pregnancy screenings, birth control, and obstetric services. The reason for the funding freeze? The Department of Health & Human Services says the hold is in place while they investigate whether that money was used for any Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
And there is the connection.
In short, the Trump administration, Elon Musk’s DOGE, and RFK Jr. are halting lifesaving funds for babies, and Black babies and their moms will be disproportionately harmed.
I mean, seriously? If there were ever a time for republicans to be okay with DEI efforts, don’t you think it would be efforts that help pregnant patients have healthy pregnancies and decrease infant mortality? Nope. That would make way too much sense for the party that claims to be “pro-life.”
This next statement may be hard for some to digest, but a colorblind health system is a racist health system. If we cannot recognize that race is intertwined with healthcare outcomes — and if we cannot study those outcomes and combat their root causes — more Black babies will die.
And yes, this is a South Carolina issue as well as a national issue. The Black infant mortality rate in SC was higher in 2023 than it was in 1973, a whole fifty years earlier. We should all be ashamed.
In a sane country, there would be public outcry against this from every major medical organization, every mother in Congress, and yes every single pro-lifer.
The fact that we are stuck with a babies-last, moms-last, kids-last president until January 2029 is devastating, but I,alongside my friends Annie Andrews, Renee Harvey, and so many others, are working our butts off to elect a more compassionate and child-focused Kids First Majority in 2026 and beyond.
The racist fucks continue to destroy democracy in America. Poor little stupid fuck white guys who should have been aborted at birth supported by the stupid people of the fascist party that used to be called Republicans.