In a brazen response to the growing, ongoing epidemic of maternal mortality affecting an disproportionate amount of Black mothers, Hulu presents the original documentary Aftershock. An Onyx Collective and ABC News Studios production, Aftershock tells the story of Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac, who both died due to preventable childbirth complications leaving behind their children to be raised by single fathers.
In the past couple of years, the stories of only about 20 Black women out of thousands who have died from medical malpractice due to racial bias and discriminatory practices have made mainstream news. Among those are Sha-Asia Washington, Kira Johnson, Felicia West, and Tanesia Walker.
“Black women are four times more likely to die than their white counterparts with the same symptoms — why is that?” the father of Isaac’s child asks in the documentary.
One of the reasons attributed to the U.S. maternal health system crisis is medical gaslighting, a practice in which medical personnel doesn’t take patients’ complaints and conditions seriously. Another reason is the lack of midwives available to expecting women and then there’s structural racism embedded within the healthcare industry.
The documentary won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was the official selection at the SXSW 2022 Film Festival. Tonya Lewis Lee co-directs and co-produces alongside 93Queen director Paula Eiselt.
“We have the worst maternal mortality rate in the Western world,” Eiselt said in an interview on the Tamron Hall Show. “This is the most dangerous Western country to have a baby in and to be pregnant in.”
Aftershock premieres July 19 on Hulu.
