Black Woman Forced to Give Birth in Car After Hospital Ignored Her Pain

Nov

2025

In the News

Black Woman Forced to Give Birth in Car After Hospital Ignored Her Pain

Source: Jezebel

Earlier this month, Mercedes Wells was ready to give birth at Franciscan Health Hospital in Crown Point, Indiana, when staff turned her away, saying that she would have to come back later because she was only dilated three centimeters. Eight minutes later, she gave birth to her fourth baby in her truck. Wells’ story went viral on social media, after her family uploaded a video of her—clearly in pain—being wheeled down a hospital corridor by health care workers. “It was really a horrific situation,” she told NBC News. “To be treated like a dog, or not even like a dog, like less than.”

Wells’ experience is not an anomaly; across the U.S., Black women like herself are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and they are also more likely than other groups to be treated unfairly by health care workers. So on Tuesday, galvanized by Wells’ story, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) told NBC she plans to introduce the WELLS Act, or the Women Expansion for Learning and Labor Safety Act.

“My bill aims to address systematic issues around maternal care, racial disparities, and hospital accountability,” Rep. Kelly told the outlet. “It’s clear that what happened to Mercedes isn’t an isolated incident, nor is it the first time a Black woman’s pain has been ignored.”

The U.S. has one of the worst maternal mortality rates among wealthy countries, with rates worsening since the 1990s. Indiana ranks particularly high for maternal mortality rates for Black women, who are 93% more likely to die than white women, per data gathered by the state’s Department of Health.

The risk of maternal mortality is also particularly bad in states where abortion is banned, and a report by the CDC this year confirmed that mothers living in such states are “nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth, compared to mothers living in supportive states where abortion was legal and accessible.” Compound all of this with the fact that the Trump administration—in its DEI wars—basically gutted the office in charge of overseeing and tracking these rates, and the picture looks even more grim.

According to Kelly, the WELLS Act will require health care professionals to undergo mandatory racial bias training, and require any hospital that provides OB-GYN or labor and delivery services to have in place a “Safe Discharge Labor Plan,” for any patient who seems to have symptoms of labor. She plans to formally introduce the plan next week, after the House returns from its holiday weekend.

On Friday, Franciscan Health’s CEO said the doctor and nurse in charge of Wells’ care (and dismissal) were fired, and acknowledged the hospital “failed to listen to [her] concerns.”

“It says that they don’t care at all for Black women in health, and it’s hurtful,” Wells recently said. “We thought that, you know, things have changed at this point in our country, and I don’t see a change.”

By Danielle Han