New York will launch a citywide program to provide mothers with free access to doulas, Mayor Adams said Wednesday, deploying a relatively small infantry of childbirth experts in high-need areas before expanding across the five boroughs.
Adams, who hopes to significantly reduce the huge racial gaps in fatal pregnancy-related complications, moved to fulfill a campaign promise with the announcement, and said the city will start by offering free doula access in 33 neighborhoods.
“The reality is: Black women are treated differently when they go for health care,” the mayor said in a news conference at the city-run Brownsville Neighborhood Health Action Center in Brooklyn. “We have to be honest about it if we want to fix it.”
