Tatyana Ali Pens Essay on Beauty of Black Women’s Pregnancy Journey on Essence

Tatyana Ali recently gave birth to her second son, Alejandro Vaughn Rasberry, on August 15, and she’s written an empowering and insightful essay on the importance and beauty of Black women’s pregnancy journey on Essence.

The actress and activist wrote an open letter on why she decided to never give birth in a hospital again.

She called out the medical system in the United States for its continuous racism and bias when it comes to treating Black women.

Read excerpts from the article

The birth of my first son, three years ago, went completely off script. For reasons that I have come to know are pretty much textbook, my low risk pregnancy resulted in extremely questionable actions on the part of those attending and an emergency c-section.

My labor was harried, filled with people I didn’t know screaming at me. My doula, concerned with her status at the hospital, who knew I wanted a natural birth, persistently advised me to take an epidural. I agreed, and the epidural left me unable to move.

One doctor slammed his forearm on top of my belly in order to force my son down as though I were a tube of toothpaste.

Click here to read the full article

See photos below

Credit

Location: Mom and Dad’s backyard
Creative direction: @iammoniquelauren Makeup/ Hair: @chrisgees
Photographer: Destiny Bennet @eyekonicphotography
Publicist: @abjcoleman
Publisher: @essence