The LOUD Rollback: How the Removal of DEI Efforts Threatens Black Midwifery and Doula Momentum

In recent years, we’ve witnessed a powerful surge in advocacy, scholarship, and visibility for Black midwives and doulas across the country. At the intersection of racial justice, reproductive health, and community-based care, this movement has been fueled by a broader national commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—a commitment that now finds itself under increasing threat.

As states and institutions roll back DEI initiatives, we must ask: What happens to the critical work of Black birth workers when these support systems disappear?

The Current Landscape

Black midwives and doulas have long been pillars of reproductive care in Black communities—offering culturally rooted, trauma-informed, and community-led support to families navigating medical systems that have historically failed them. The resurgence of Black midwifery and the growing visibility of Black doulas have coincided with national conversations about racial disparities in maternal health and the urgent need for solutions that center Black lives.

In this movement, DEI frameworks have created space—however imperfect—for funding, research, training, and institutional acknowledgment of Black midwifery traditions. These spaces have supported the growth of community-based birth centers, training pathways, culturally competent care models, and vital grassroots organizing.

What’s at Stake

The dismantling of DEI initiatives threatens to reverse the momentum of this progress. Without structural support, the following areas are at serious risk:

• Funding Loss: Many grassroots organizations, training programs, and research projects depend on DEI-driven funding. Without it, Black-led initiatives may shrink or disappear altogether.

• Policy Silence: DEI rollback often comes with erasure. The systemic issues Black midwives and doulas confront—racism in healthcare, lack of access to birth choices, and medical violence—become harder to name, let alone address.

• Research Gaps: With DEI efforts in academia being suppressed, the lived experiences, ancestral knowledge, and community-led models of care developed by Black midwives are at risk of being left out of formal research agendas.

• Educational Barriers: Emerging Black birth workers may find fewer pathways to certification, fewer mentorship opportunities, and a lack of culturally relevant training programs as institutions step away from inclusive practices.

The Long-Term Impact

Removing DEI does not erase disparity—it erases the ability to name, understand, and address it. The result? A chilling effect on innovation, collaboration, and justice-centered care in reproductive health.

The loss of support for Black midwifery and doula care risks stalling the strides made in reducing maternal mortality, expanding birth choices, and restoring ancestral knowledge that centers Black life, wellness, and autonomy.

The Future of the Work

Now, more than ever, our movements must be nimble, community-led, and rooted in collective memory. We must document our stories, uplift oral histories, and build archives that affirm our contributions regardless of institutional recognition. Research must continue—not just in universities, but in our clinics, living rooms, and community gardens.

The future belongs to those who refuse to let care be erased. Even as systems shift, Black midwifery and doula work remain unapologetically alive, grounded in love, tradition, and liberation.