African–American women are dying from preventable pregnancy-related complications at three to four times the rate of non-Hispanic White women, according to a report from the Center for American Progress, which also found that the death rate for Black infants is twice that of infants born to non-Hispanic White mothers.
The authors of “Eliminating Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Mortality” pointed out that the differences in mortality rates are one aspect of an overall problem in the U.S.
“If the fact that the United States has the highest maternal and infant mortality rates among comparable developed countries is not bad enough, the survival rates for African American mothers and their infants are even more dismal,” the authors wrote in their introduction. 
The report states that the racial disparities apply to African-American women “across the income spectrum and from all walks of life.”
A major contributing factor cited at the beginning of the report is racism.
“Disparities in maternal and infant mortality are rooted in racism,” it stated. “Structural racism in health care and social service delivery means that African-American women often receive poorer quality care than white women.”
The report recommended various policy strategies for combating the health issues that cause deaths, including:
