To talk about maternal health disparities and how to end them, The 21st was joined by the leader of a maternal health organization and a health disparities researcher.

Democrat Robin Kelly represents Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District, which stretches from the south shore of Chicago 124 miles south to Danville. She joined us to discuss issues ranging from maternal health and COVID-19 to police brutality and hyper-partisanship.

“Mental health conditions” topped the list of leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths.  An Illinois Department of Human Services program has begun to take on that challenge.

A state mandate requires all pregnant women in Illinois be screened for depression as part of their prenatal care. But new research study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finds that those screenings may overlook a significant proportion of women who have suicidal thoughts. 

Some doctors see access to birth control as a tool in the fight to decrease maternal and infant mortality. Indiana has one of the nation’s worst rates of new mothers and infants dying, and those rates are even worse for black women. But a history of abuse has led to distrust of health care professionals in communities of color.