- Actress Jodie Turner-Smith wrote about her at-home birth experience in a new personal essay for British Vogue.
- Turner-Smith revealed that she opted for a home birth due to the systemic racism that affects Black women in hospitals across the country.
- Turner-Smith and her husband, Joshua Jackson, welcomed their baby girl in April.
Jodie Turner-Smith has shared insight into the challenges that led up to her giving birth earlier this spring. In a new essay for British Vogue, the Queen & Slim star detailed her experience, sharing how the coronavirus pandemic affected her pregnancy and that she went through nearly four intense days of labor before meeting her baby girl.
"Every stage of my pregnancy brought its own challenges and lessons. Nobody really teaches you about what your body goes through to bring a child into the world until you're actually doing it," shared Turner-Smith.
The actress also revealed that she opted for a home birthing experience due to the negative birth outcomes that often affect Black women in America within the country's medical system.
"We had already decided on a home birth, because of concerns about negative birth outcomes for Black women in America—according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of pregnancy-related deaths is more than three times greater for Black women than for white women, pointing, it seems to me, to systemic racism," shared the actress.
Frazer Harrison//Getty Images
"We never imagined that in the coming weeks, hospitals around the country would begin restricting who could be present in the birthing rooms, forcing mothers to deliver without the support person or people of their choice," she continued. "Delivering at home ensured that I had what every single woman deserves to have: full agency in determining my birth support."
Turner-Smith went on to praise her husband, actor Joshua Jackson, for his tireless support during her pregnancy, as well the days-long birthing process.
"It made me realize how lucky and privileged I am to have a partner willing to follow me around the world, supporting me while I did my job," continued Turner-Smith. "Both of us had watched our own mothers struggle to raise children without such support. Both of us were determined to create something for ourselves."
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
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