No Mother’s Day in Support of Maternal Mortality Reduction Globally

Image Courtesy of everymothercounts.org

Mother’s Day originally began as an anti-war protest. A call for change by mothers fed up with losing their husbands and sons to war. Over time it’s evolved to become a day where moms are honoured with tokens of love and appreciation like breakfast in bed, cards, flowers or some chocolates. However, that is not the case for everyone. For some, Mother’s Day is a painful reminder of a mother, sister or daughter no longer alive. The reality is that every 90 seconds a woman dies from a pregnancy-related complication somewhere in the world. We are not just talking about a problem that exists in the third world either. According to Amnesty International’s Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health report, the USA’s place in the world maternal mortality ranking has fallen from 41st to 50th. This means that a female US citizen has a greater risk of dying during child birth than in 49 other countries even though it spends more on health care per capita than any other nation in the world. It’s inconceivable that such a serious problem can be so prevalent on a global scale and it is this reality that motivated mother and human rights activist Christy Turlington Burns to take action.

Christy is the founder of Every Mother Counts which she launched in 2010 because she had a birthing complication herself which led to her researching and learning about the “shocking statistics about the hundreds of thousands women who die each year from complications caused by pregnancy and childbirth despite the fact that almost 90 percent of them are preventable.” She was also moved to make a powerful documentary with her husband Edward Burns titled No Woman, No Cry which traced the dangerous plight that pregnant women face in developing countries.

Every Mother Counts has launched a campaign, No Mother’s Day and it’s not by accident that this campaign is running in the days leading to Mother’s Day. At the heart of the No Mother’s Day campaign is a star-studded video directed by Christy’s husband Edward Burns where Christy is joined by other mothers such as Smash star Debra Messing, Kelly Rutherford, Blythe Danner, Jennifer Connelly, Heather Armstrong and Today Show anchor Ann Curry and others. The video is a call for solidarity to all mothers to “disappear” on Mother’s Day.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0w669fZBH8[/youtube]

Mother’s can “disappear” by going silent for the day – no phone calls, emails or Facebook updates. Everyone can participate by sharing the video and the information contained on the Every Mother Counts website or by making a donation to a cause that supports maternal health globally or purchasing items that do.

Image courtesy of starbucksstore.com (click to enlarge)

Every Mother Counts is selling a CD at Starbucks in the US and Canada. Eight dollars from every sale will support Every Mother Counts with contributions from: Bono, the Edge, Eddie Vedder, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Faith Hill, Sade, Lauryn Hill, Rita Wilson, Diana Krall, Seal, Dave Matthews Band, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, David Bowie, Cedella Marley, Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Patti Smith, and Coldplay.

Every Mother Counts is also selling a t-shirt online and 20% of the purchase price from the Bob Marley inspired Get Up, Stand Up t-shirtwill go to Every Mother Counts. Plus, every t-shirt purchased results in an entry into a draw to win a shirt signed by Cedella Marley and Christy Turlington Burns. The shirt features handwritten lyrics to Get Up, Stand Up by Cedella and Christy on the inside so they are close to your heart.

Image courtesy of everymothercounts.org

Here are some important facts about maternal health around the world.

• Approximately 358,000 women die each year due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth. That’s one woman every 90 seconds.
• For every woman who dies each year in childbirth, 20-30 more suffer from lifelong debilitating disabilities.
• Pregnancy is the number one cause of death in women, ages 15-19, in the developing world. Nearly 70,000 young women die every year because their bodies are not ready for parenthood.
• Over 200 million women who would like to choose when they get pregnant don’t have access to family planning.
• African American women in the US are four times more likely to die in childbirth than Caucasian women.

Skipping the holiday will be simple to Christy who said in a Huff Post interview, “Personally, It doesn’t feel right being celebrated as a mom on this one day of the year when so many other moms will never be.”

It’s time to take back Mother’s Day. Show your solidarity. Join in support of No Mother’s Day.
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