By Cherranda Smith
Mar 4, 2021
Black and Brown people who give birth now have access to a new digital platform where they can rate and review their experiences with Ob/Gyns, hospitals, and pediatricians.
Irth –– Birth without the B for bias –– was launched by Narrative Nation, Inc. a New York City-based Black woman-owned tech nonprofit that addresses health disparities through community discussion and technology.
Kimberly Seals Allers, the app’s founder and five-time author, was inspired to launch Irth after her own experience giving birth to her first child.
“When I had my first child, I asked white co-workers and friends for recommendations, read all the ‘Best of’ lists for hospitals, and was excited to deliver at a highly-ranked institution. Instead, I left feeling dismissed, disrespected, and traumatized. Exactly opposite to what my white peers had experienced. At that time in my life, I was not yet married and was finishing graduate school, and was th