Chicago’s plan for tackling the Black maternal health crisis

Last month, Mayor Lori Lighfoot pledged $500,000 of city funds to keep Chicago a safe haven for abortion and reproductive care.

By Brenda Ruiz, Sarah Stark
A report by the Illinois Department of Public Health is part of a national effort to standardize how maternal deaths are reviewed and prevented.
A report by the Illinois Department of Public Health is part of a national effort to standardize how maternal deaths are reviewed and prevented. AP Photo/Andrew Shurtleff
A report by the Illinois Department of Public Health is part of a national effort to standardize how maternal deaths are reviewed and prevented.
A report by the Illinois Department of Public Health is part of a national effort to standardize how maternal deaths are reviewed and prevented. AP Photo/Andrew Shurtleff

Chicago’s plan for tackling the Black maternal health crisis

Last month, Mayor Lori Lighfoot pledged $500,000 of city funds to keep Chicago a safe haven for abortion and reproductive care.

By Brenda Ruiz, Sarah Stark
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Black Chicagoans are six times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white Chicagoans, according to a 2019 report from the Chicago Department of Public Health. While the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 addresses the crisis nationally, Chicago health officials want to target local inequities.

Reset breaks down new policy and other efforts to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for Black parents.

GUESTS: Jamila Taylor, director of health care reform and senior fellow at The Century Foundation

Dr. Candice Robinson, medical director of the bureau of maternal, infant, child and adolescent health at the Chicago Department of Public Health