ABSTRACT
African American women are facing a tripartite pandemic. COVID-19 continues to relentlessly sweep through our families and communities. White supremacy infects our justice system as we await – impatiently – for the justice of Breonna Taylor and other women like her. And, there remains an ever-present and expanding pandemic of mistreatment in black maternal healthcare that has impacted the lives of countless women since our arrival to this land. This essay explores the pandemic of mistreatment in black maternal healthcare in light of the pandemic and through a womanist clinical pastoral theology articulates a response to interrupt it. This essay explores the birth story of Opal, who tells her story while living with COVID-19. Psychoanalytic frameworks are interwoven throughout Opal’s living human narrative to birth a womanist clinical pastoral response advocating for black birthwork as spiritual care.
