Elaine Welteroth, journalist and founder of nonprofit birthFUND, wants people to help Black women and women of color access supportive birth care.

In a viral TikTok video reportedly captured in the triage area of Dallas Regional Medical Center in Mesquite, TX, patient Karrie Jones is asked a series of questions, such as her due date, by a white nurse while Jones is sitting in a wheelchair in pain, minutes away from giving birth, per NBC News. Jones supposedly had to wait more than half an hour before being admitted to the hospital.

Less than a week later, a separate viral video showed an incident of reported negligence in Franciscan Hospital in Crown Point, IL, with patient Mercedes Wells, notes NBC News. She was experiencing contractions, which she told the outlet meant she wouldn’t be far from delivering. However, she spent six hours at the hospital and was reportedly never seen by a doctor, just a nurse, and was sent home. Within eight minutes of leaving the hospital, her husband, Leon, who was driving, had to quickly pull off of the road to allow Wells to give birth.

Wells has now been hospitalized as a result of issues post-birth, People reports.

Welteroth responded to these videos, telling AFROTECH™:

“As painful and as traumatizing as it is to see those videos, I think it’s important that we look at them … It’s horrifying to see the way that those women, both of those women, were treated there. It’s interesting that two viral videos are showing us just how inhumane our medical system can and does treat Black women. It’s outrageous. But I think for some people this is a wake-up call.”

birthFUND

In 2024, Welteroth launched birthFUND alongside tennis star Serena Williams and with the support of a coalition including Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Kelly Rowland, and Tina Knowles. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, birthFUND covers out-of-pocket costs of midwifery care for families in need.

“I started birthFund because even someone like myself, who has privileges and resources that a lot of people who look like me don’t, I was not immune to poor treatment,” Welteroth expressed.

“I have not experienced anything as egregious and inhumane as what I saw on those videos. But I’ve experienced a version of neglect and a lack of care, and I’ve read the stories as a journalist, I’ve dug into the statistics. This is a well-documented crisis that is only getting worse … BirthFUND literally exists to take action in real time to support women like them and to make sure that we give a different ending to that story,” she added.

A mother of five children in Ohio was helped through the fund, Welteroth said. That mother acknowledged she would not have been able to afford the cost of an at-home birth without the support of the fund and that hospitals were not a consideration for her after a prior traumatic medical experience. She had shared with Welteroth that she was prepared to give birth unassisted at home if she had not received aid from the birthFUND.

“That just helps frame how dire some of these situations are and just how afraid many Black women and women of color are of the hospital system,” Welteroth said. “…That is why we have to create a pipeline for more community birth workers who look like the patients that they [serve], who can [serve] them in a way that is respectful and empowering and dignified and in their own home, if that’s their preferred choice.”

When Welteroth was pregnant, she had a midwife. She shared on Instagram that 12 days after giving birth, she experienced symptoms of blood clots in her legs. She texted her midwife, who immediately told her to go to the ER, which saved her life. Midwifery care could prevent two-thirds of maternal deaths, newborn deaths, and stillbirths by 2035 if it became more universal, notes the World Health Organization. This could save 4.3 million lives per year.

So far, 138 babies have been born through the birthFUND, and more than 260 families have benefited from it in the past year and a half, Welteroth told AFROTECH™. According to People, the fund has raised more than $3 million.

Welteroth also emphasized that many conversations around maternal health stop at fear, conditioning people to adopt this mindset around motherhood and birth. She wants to provide hope through efforts that offer safer, more “joyful and peaceful” birth experiences to challenge a broken system.

“We are safeguarding families one birth at a time. And I’m really proud and energized about the narrative shift that we’re a part of. I think we are a part of mainstreaming this conversation about maternal health and shifting the conversation from purely fear-mongering to galvanizing support around solutions, closing the gaps in real-time saving and supporting — saving lives and supporting women in their most vulnerable hours,” Welteroth mentioned.

birthFUND100

Welteroth is also mobilizing a list of “100 culture change makers” in the nonprofit’s latest update, birthFund100. The list will include those who are ready to face the challenges that mothers and their families may experience, such as food insecurity, unsafe housing, lack of transportation to care, and medical emergencies.

The aim is to raise $1 million that will support a rapid relief fund.

Actress Kerry Washington is already signed on to the initiative and will serve as birthFund100‘s first impact partner. Additional impact leaders signed on include actress Michelle Monaghan and entrepreneurs Laura Modi and Nancy Twine.

“I’m proud and honored to partner with @birthfund and help kick off the #BirthFUND100, a cultural power list mobilizing 100 leaders to stand in the gap for mothers,” Washington wrote on Instagram. “This work is changing what care looks like — giving moms real support, real resources, and real protection when it matters most.”