now in production
As a Black community midwife and mother of six, Tanya Smith-Johnson has birthed babies in several different states and settings, from hospitals to birth centers and at home, and has seen the disparities in care for people of color worsening each year as the hospital ways of “managing” childbirth take over, and as rural care options disappear. Knowing that greater access to midwifery is a solution, she tackles the issue strategically on all fronts – mentoring a growing “pipeline” of student midwives, becoming the first Black president of a major midwifery college, serving her clients with true care, and working to increase access to midwifery and options for families giving birth. When her family moves to Mississippi, one of a few states where community midwifery is still not legally recognized, she works to establish a midwifery practice, serve families, and improve maternal care options across the state.
Producing team
Delivering Justice is being directed and produced by independent filmmaker Jen Gilomen, with a creative team that includes Selina Lewis Davidson, Jessica Jones and Ashley Omoma; the producing team shares a passion for reproductive justice. Jen had a traumatic near-death childbirth experience in 2018, Selina is a trained doula and maternal health advocate, Jessica became a mama and completed a short film for the Smithsonian Futures project about birth justice, and Ashley completed multiple works covering reproductive justice.
