This story is intense and deeply disturbing. The high maternal death rate in a "first world" country reveals how little America cares about women, and about women of color in particular. (So does the abortion ban.) I felt lucky in that for my own three births I had my eldest sister at my side who was trained as a midwife and didn't mind questioning the doctors and had the language and knowledge to do it. Her advice was to wait until the very last minute to go to the hospital so they couldn't foist interventions like inducement or C-sections on me. She mistrusted them, too.