EverThrive Illinois applauds the leadership of Governor JB Pritzker, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), and State Senator Lakesia Collins (D-Chicago) in passing HB 5142, the birth equity initiative for pregnancy and postpartum care. This law will address Illinois’s maternal health disparities by providing additional insurance coverage for birth workers like midwives and doulas.
Birth workers improve care and support for pregnant people and reduce disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality for Black pregnant people. Recently, private insurance companies were not required to cover access to the same birthing support workforce. This created a gap in access to critical reproductive health care for pregnant and birthing people with private insurance.
The signing of this new bill has cemented Illinois’s national leadership in reproductive health care. As an organization fighting for increased access to health care for communities most impacted by injustice, we know that expanding access to birth workers across the state is essential in addressing birth equity.