Sublime

Pregnancy brings about the birth of not one but two new beings. Mother is not a fixed identity; we are dynamic and grow along with our young. The

Thousands of mothers are being forced out of their jobs, and hundreds of thousands more face other types of injustice such as demotions, halted careers or an impossible workload.

2020 was the year we finally realised that the needs of pregnant women and mothers are often sidelined and ignored with sometimes disastrous consequences for families.

‘Do you mind either way?’ The woman behind the till has scanned my box of Colgate and bottle of nit shampoo, but her hand pauses over the pregnancy test. My eyes flick quickly up to hers. I have four children already; asking me if I mind, as I buy a test that will seal my fate, feels way too intimate. What if I had been a different person, in diffe

the end, regardless of a Black woman’s marriage status or the specific circumstances surrounding her pregnancy, they were vulnerable to state-sanctioned violence at the hands of racist white doctors and complicit hospital workers who deemed impoverished Black women “unfit” for reproduction.