Elaine Welteroth's Birth Experience Changed Her Career Path
Elaine Welteroth Credit - Simone Niamani Thompson—The New York Times/Redux
When Elaine Welteroth was pregnant with her first child, she assumed she would give birth in a hospital, like her mother and grandmother had. But she struggled to find a doctor who made her feel safe and comfortable, often leaving appointments in tears. After going through eight, she found an alternative: Kindred Space LA, a Black-owned birthing center staffed with midwives. “[They] completely changed my perspective on birth, on my body, on my agency, and they really changed my life,” says Welteroth, now 38. Midwives, she explains, typically spend more time with an expectant family during appointments, and take a more holistic approach, such as by asking about stress levels and work life. Research also suggests that midwifery care can reduce maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths.
Welteroth wanted to make that compassionate care more accessible, so she started a fundraiser on her Instagram in December 2023 to help one family afford midwifery services. She ended up exceeding that goal, raising enough money to support two. That motivated her to start birthFUND, which aims to raise awareness about midwifery and help expectant families access those services. Part of birthFUND’s mission, Welteroth says, is “to make birth joyful again” and help pregnant people understand what their options are.
Officially launched in April 2024, birthFUND raises money through its founding family funders (which include celebrities like Serena Williams, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen), corporate donations, and individual contributions. birthFUND partners with two organizations—Birth Center Equity and the Victoria Project—to identify midwifery-care providers, who then identify families in need in their communities. These families can then apply for grants to help them access midwifery care. As of mid-January, birthFUND had supported 53 families, and 26 babies had been born with birthFUND’s support.
Welteroth says that birthFUND was a “natural extension” of her career thus far. Welteroth made history as the youngest editor-in-chief in Condé Nast’s history when she was chosen to lead Teen Vogue in 2016. Under her leadership, the magazine expanded its politics coverage and focused on uplifting marginalized voices. “The throughline throughout my whole career is creating what I feel I needed—creating what I feel the world needs more of, and not just contributing to the status quo,” says Welteroth, who left the publication in 2018 and went on to write the best-selling book More Than Enough.
Welteroth was always aware of the statistics about maternal mortality: The U.S. has one of the highest maternal-mortality rates of any high-income country in the world, and Black women are three times more likely than white women to die from an issue related to pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Welteroth’s own negative experience with the maternal-health-care system further galvanized her to make sure that “every mother who does not feel safe within the medical system and who wants to have a birth on their own terms, surrounded by community support of birth workers who are incredibly capable” have that option.
“This is a systemic issue; there’s so many different contributing factors to why Black women are dying at higher rates during and after childbirth in this country,” Welteroth says. “But I think the beauty of birthFUND is that we’re taking on one solution that we know has worked to keep us alive and to help us thrive and to help us stay empowered through our birth journeys, and that’s midwifery.”
“If we each can just focus on what we can do to move the needle, then I really, truly believe that we can solve this crisis in our lifetime,” Welteroth says.
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