South Jersey mom shares her pregnancy experience during Black Maternal Health Week

MOORESTOWN, New Jersey (WPVI) -- By all accounts, having a baby should be a joyous time, but bringing life into the world could cost some moms their lives.

Raising awareness of that fact is the focus of Black Maternal Health Week.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related issue than their white counterparts.

One New Jersey woman in Burlington County came close to being a part of that statistic. She hopes her story and her new mission can help others.

"We're getting tons of moms and families these days," said Victoria Dash as she stood inside 'I See Baby,' a 3D and 4D ultrasound business in the Moorestown Mall that she co-founded.

The company offers moms-to-be a chance to see babies in a way they're usually not seen.

"3D is really lifelike. So you see the features, the chubby cheeks, the scrunching of the nose," said Dash.

Dash takes pride in giving other moms the pregnancy experience she didn't have.

"I woke up, there was 50 nurses there and they're saying, 'What happened? Are you ok? Are you ok?' Then the baby came out," she recalled of her birth experience with her third child.

Complications during childbirth are something she always feared. For Black women, that fear is very real.

The 6abc data journalism team found the rate of pregnancy-caused deaths for Black women in New Jersey is six times higher than their white counterparts. In Pennsylvania, it's four times higher.

"I don't think there is anything more tragic than losing a mom during the process of childbirth," said Chief Physician Executive Dr. Jack Ludmir at Temple Women and Families Hospital.

Philadelphia's Maternal Mortality Review Committee found that from 2013 to 2018, Black women made up 43% of births but 73% of pregnancy-related deaths in the city.

Ludmir says the reasons could range from access to medical care to systemic racism.

"It is really trying to address the social issues and how to try to combine both of them," he said.

Ludmir notes the importance of advocacy and doulas, who can assist during pregnancy and childbirth.

"I said, 'I don't care what happens, as long as you don't let me die,'" said Dash.

She credits her doula with helping her not become a statistic.

"She quite literally saved my life," said Dash of Xiomara Gittens, certified doula and owner of The Purple Purpose which provides doula services.

"For anybody giving birth, any race, the fear is am I going to make it out," said Gittens, "but as a black woman I can honestly say I think everybody's fear is that number."

That's why offering a peek at a healthy baby with her business is so important to Dash. She hopes more moms have deliveries that are not just special but safe.

"Give you that happy experience for every pregnancy," she said.

Temple hopes its new Women and Families hospital can help by providing services to vulnerable populations.

The hospital is open for outpatient services now, and will fully open for all services in 2025.

The Pennsylvania Legislature also has a Black Maternal Health Caucus, which introduced a set of bills known as PA MOMNIBUS to help address the issue.