Star August Ali, Co-Founder, and CEO of HBC said, “It is an honor to carry on my great grandmother’s legacy as a Midwife. I think she would be proud of how far we have come in such a short amount of time; I’d also like to think that she would also tell anyone and everyone that there is a need to expand this necessary service and human right to people and families who are seeking to give birth on their own terms. We must maintain the velocity of our momentum and continue to interrogate the simple fact that places like our home state of Illinois are among the most dangerous places for black women to give birth in the U.S.”

Callan Jaress, Co-Founder of HBC said, “Thanks to the leadership of Deputy House Majority Leader Mary Flowers and Senator Patricia Van Pelt, Illinois is the first state in the nation to pass legislation to ensure that women in Illinois can exercise the freedom of choice about the healthcare providers during pregnancy and birth. These are big wins in the HBC’s larger fight of building the infrastructures necessary to make safe, trauma-informed, dignifying maternity care the norm so that our healthcare system equitably maintains the safety, dignity, and joy of all pregnant and birthing families.”

August added “Maternal deaths —defined as “women who died either while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy” — are on the rise in the U.S., especially among black women. These gender and racial disparities aren’t just a black women’s issue, they are everyone’s issue. If black women are at risk, we are all at risk.”