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Former teammates of Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie are urging the country to "do more" about the Black maternal mortality crisis following news of her cause of death.
Bowie, 32, was found dead by Orange County Sheriff's deputies on May 2, according to TMZ. An Orange County Medical Examiner's Office autopsy report obtained by multiple outlets earlier this week said Bowie was "undergoing labor at the time of her death."
According to the report, Bowie may have experienced respiratory distress or eclampsia, a rare condition that can cause seizures.
Tributes poured in as news of Bowie's cause of death surfaced. On Tuesday (June 13), Allyson Felix, Bowie's former teammate on Team USA, shared an Instagram post by fellow gold medalist Tianna Madison, per the Daily Mail.
"THREE of the FOUR of us who ran on the SECOND fastest 4x100m relay of all time, the 2016 Olympic Champions have nearly died or died in childbirth," Madison wrote alongside a photo of her, Felix, Bowie, and English Gardner at the Rio Olympics.
Felix responded to the post on her Instagram story, saying the stat was "absolutely heartbreaking."
"We continue to face a black maternal mortality crisis in this country. We have to do more," Felix wrote.
Felix herself suffered from life-threatening pre-eclampsia at 32 weeks pregnant. Madison also shared her pregnancy difficulties in Tuesday's post.
"Even though I went into labor at 26 weeks we went to the hospital with my medical advance directive AND my will," she wrote. "Additionally I had a VERY tough conversation with [her partner] about who to save if it came down to it. I was NOT AT ALL confident that I’d be coming home."
Studies show that Black mothers have the highest rate of mortality, in part due to racial health disparities. A CDC statistic on Black maternal mortality rate citied 69.9 per 100,000 live births for 2021.
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