Nearly 50 percent of American mothers say their birth experience was traumatic. Birfund is here to change that.

As the maternal health crisis within the United States takes center stage, including during Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17), many ladies want to experience childbirth in another way. They are forgoing cold births within the hospital to have the ability to give birth to their babies in birthing centers or at home. They are on the lookout for someone who will advocate for them, not doctors who downplay their feelings and discomfort. They are on the lookout for the peaceful and joyful experience possible.

To support families through this, creator, editor, journalist and tv personality Elaine Welteroth founded a corporation to provide them with financial support. With the assistance of a recently established who’s who of founding family funders birthFUND I’m already working on the change. This includes establishing a pool of vetted maternity providers, connecting them with expectant mothers and their babies, and providing these families with need-based stipends to cover the price of “holistic perinatal care” and birthing services.

“We are all tired of hearing these sad stories,” Welteroth said throughout the BirthdayFUND event with TIME CMO Sadé Muhammad titled “The New Movement for Maternal Health,” which concluded Black Maternal Health Week. It amplified the stories of several founding family funders, including CNN’s Abby Phillip and model Ashley Graham, with insights from BirthFUND advisor and creator Uche Blackstock, M.D. “That’s why we’re not here today to spread fear or repeat sad stories. We know the statistics, we know they are grim, and we know there is enough bad news in the world. We’re here to truly turn statistics into a call to action. We need to stop being shocked and find a way to implement solutions that will change this. One of these solutions is midwifery.”

Midwifery is the default form of birth care in other financially wealthy countries. It is also one of the oldest professions. But because the event noted, here within the U.S. it is shrouded in miseducation and has been since doctors, including male doctors, began to be marketed because the people of selection for delivering babies.

“In 1921, there was a law called the Sheppard-Towner Act that essentially medicalized the birthing process. “It was part of a campaign that essentially associated midwifery with poor outcomes and poor outcomes for mothers, even though there was no evidence of that at the time,” Blackstock said throughout the panel call. “This medicalized the birthing process so that patients were cared for by obstetricians and gynecologists, and at the time, it was mostly white men. And that made the whole process of becoming a midwife even more difficult.”

As a result, giving birth in hospital was seen because the safest way, while attempts to give birth at home with the assistance of a midwife are vilified – to today.

“Just before the newborn was born, one of my doctor friends asked, ‘Where will you give birth?’ And I actually thought I was giving birth at home. And then she said, “It’s not very safe.” And I just said, OK. OK, thanks,” Phillips said. She later told the obstetrician she was seeing until she was 32 weeks pregnant that she was going to give birth at home, and received the same response.

“She said, ‘I even have to let you know this, nevertheless it’s much less protected and the chance shall be much higher for you. And there are plenty of things that may go flawed. And once you’re not within the hospital, it’s far more likely that the outcomes shall be bad for you. It’s really scary for me as a girl and a mom,” Phillips said.

She added: “But the method of learning about midwifery is a process of trying to understand the intended end result of birth, what our body can do and what the goal of medical care is. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it is not that every one births needs to be performed by midwives, but somewhat that medical care is there to take care of the individuals who take care of it. And by its nature, childbirth doesn’t have to be medicalized for all women. This is simply not the case.

Nevertheless, here within the US in 2022. 32.1 percent of live births were by cesarean section, a surgery that may be distressing and difficult to get well from for brand spanking new mothers. And that is part of why standardizing maternity care is so vital to BirthFUND.

“I didn’t know I had options. “I thought all I had to do was get an epidural or not,” said Graham, who enlisted the services of renowned doula Latham Thomas after a not-so-fantastic experience with one of the perfect doctors, or so she was told, in New York City. She only saw women like her mother giving birth within the hospital, and he or she thought giving birth meant all of the scary things we see on TV and in the flicks. But the birth of her first son (she has three children, including a pair of twins) was completely different, in the perfect sense of the word. The midwifery team gave her strength.

“Birth is no fun. Pushing your baby out of the house is no fun. I mean, maybe there is someone who will say it, but it’s hard. This is hardcore. But creating the atmosphere around you and allowing that access made me feel at peace in that room,” Graham added. “That’s what made the atmosphere inviting. Thanks to this, the labor didn’t last forever and I didn’t have to beg for medicines. I didn’t have to have a cesarean section because my team and I created an atmosphere that was calming, encouraging and friendly for me and the baby.”

One of probably the most fascinating observations about midwives is that the extent of care they supply goes beyond monitoring the newborn’s health. They offer “comprehensive care” that an overburdened medical system cannot provide. They can teach you the way the body and mind are connected and the way to reduce stress, they usually take care of each mother and baby. They are also present after the birth, come back the following day and for a lot of weeks they’re consistent within the lives of the ladies they assist as they get used to motherhood. In times when Welteroth says so almost 50 percent of mothers on this country described their childbirth as traumatic, midwives are essential.

“There were complications during the home birth, but I want to be clear: I didn’t leave because of birth trauma,” Welteroth said. Both Graham and Phillips struggled with bleeding after home births, however the midwifery team handled the situation without medical intervention, often without even realizing it.

“I didn’t know I had complications when I had them because the midwives cared for my mind, spirit and heart as much as they cared for my body,” Welteroth added. “So they took care of my failure without even notifying me. I found out the next day.”

As such, BirthFUND’s founding funders, including panelists in addition to Serena Williams, Savannah James, Ayesha Curry and more, in addition to corporate partner and private finance and banking firm SoFi, are funding the price of maternity take care of families. They also meet with these families on Zoom and construct relationships with them, hoping to provide them with the perfect possible outcomes in preparation for birth. And extraordinary people can do the identical. Every dollar and each effort counts.

“It’s a movement that really happens to everyone, wherever you are,” Welteroth said. There is a “donate” box on the birth foundation’s website. “I want to encourage you all to invest with us, whether it’s fundraising on Instagram or telling your friends. I also want to encourage all of you to gather your colleagues, unite your church community and commit to supporting your family. How can we come together and create these little microcosms of what I’ve done with these amazing, influential women? Because we all have influence in our communities.”

“You all can start these coalitions yourself,” she added. “So if you are interested in getting involved in your own way, in your own unique way, you have a superpower to offer, your company has something to offer here, please contact us. Because we are building a coalition, and it will require all of us. We cannot solve this crisis alone.”