For Star August, the birth of her first son did not go as planned. August hired an out-of-hospital midwife to guide her through the pregnancy but attended checkups in a hospital as a cost-saving measure . . .
There’s a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that has become ubiquitous in monthly newsletters from health-focused nonprofits: “Of all forms of discrimination and inequalities, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.” Few people realize King’s remark originates from a 1966 press . . .
“The numbers don’t lie. They speak for themselves. Black women are dying at the rate of eight times that of white women, and it’s a scary thought of us going to the hospital knowing that we have a higher percentage, a higher rate of dying than our counterparts,” August said. “So we want a safer option.”
A 1992 law made traditional midwifery illegal in Illinois — a felony punishable with up to $10,000 in fines or three years in prison. Only nurse midwives are able to provide midwifery services, and in most areas of the state, they’re limited to practicing in hospitals . . .
Who can be licensed as a midwife in Illinois is likely to expand soon. But home births attended by midwives under this new law would not be eligible for Medicaid coverage, at least for the time being . . .
“I wanted to let people know what happened to me,” August said. “Give young women options, make them aware of a cascade of interventions and how you can get sucked into it if you go to a hospital.” . . .
