General Assembly passes bill to mandate anti-bias training for obstetric
care providers
[May 22, 2025]
By Maggie Dougherty and Medill Illinois News Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — The Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that adds new
anti-bias education requirements for providers of maternal health
services.
The measure is aimed at combating maternal mortality in marginalized
groups. If signed into law, it would mandate providers receive one hour
of training prior to renewing a state license, starting in July 2026.
The Senate passed the bill on a 44-12 vote, following its passage 82-29
in the House in April. It needs only a signature from Gov. JB Pritzker
to become law.
The training required by House Bill 2517 would educate providers on
historic racial discrepancies in maternal care in an effort to reduce
implicit biases among providers. Health care professionals would be
allowed to count completion of the course toward minimum continuing
education requirements.
“As a country, the United States is the most dangerous place to give
birth in the developed world, and it’s three times as dangerous for
Black people,” said Kelly Hubbard, director of policy and advocacy at
EverThrive Illinois, where she works to advocate for optimal maternal
health policies. That statistic comes from the Illinois Department of
Public Health’s 2023 Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report.
Compared to white women in America who died at a rate of 14.5 deaths per
100,000 live births in 2023, Black women died at a rate of 50.3 out of
100,000 live births, according to the most recent data from the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kimberly Collier, president of the National Coalition of 100 Black
Women, Chicago Metropolitan Chapter, compared this level of mortality to
the Middle Ages, when women had significantly higher maternal mortality
rates.
Marianne Gray, a registered nurse who has a doctorate in education, came
to Springfield to support the bill through its passage in the Senate
Licensed Activities Committee earlier this month. She said part of the
problem is that caregivers often do not listen to the health concerns of
Black women.
“The moms need to be heard, and if a mom tells you, ‘I don’t feel well,’
or ‘something’s wrong,’ you can’t shrug that mom off and not listen to
them,” Gray said. “And that happens.”
Gray spoke from her firsthand experience as a Black mother, recounting
how during the birth of her first son, her providers did not listen when
she said she felt the baby pushing. The baby came earlier than providers
expected, resulting in her husband missing the birth of their first son.
The proposed law would mandate that health care professionals working on
maternal health services and seeking to renew their license through the
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation take one
hour of training in implicit bias awareness prior to renewal. The
training for prenatal and postnatal care providers should include
information about potential risk factors for childbearing individuals in
marginalized racial or ethnic groups with higher maternal mortality
rates.
Part of the issue, advocates say, is the historical misconception within
the medical field that Black people have a higher pain threshold or do
not feel pain as acutely as others.
One example of such medical racism is that of J. Marion Sims, often
called the “father of modern gynecology,” who conducted painful
experimental surgeries on enslaved Black women without anesthesia.
“There is a mistrust,” Gray said, referencing the history of unethical
medical testing on Black people. “A lot of times people in underserved
communities, they don’t trust health care providers who don’t look like
them.”
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Sen. Willie Preston, D-Chicago, speaks on the Illinois Senate floor
on Wednesday in favor of his bill to require anti-bias training for
maternal health providers. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry
Nowicki)
Rep. Lisa Davis, D-Chicago, introduced the bill in the House. Like Gray,
Davis spoke from her own experience as a Black mother.
While pregnant with her first son, Davis was past due to deliver. She
did not want to induce birth, but rather to let him arrive naturally,
she said. She developed a plan with her primary OB-GYN provider, a Black
woman who respected her wishes not to induce.
In a follow-up visit, Davis said her usual prenatal provider was
unavailable, so she saw someone else, a white woman. Davis felt this
woman to be less sensitive of her wishes, telling Davis she should
schedule an induction.
Then, Davis said, the provider checked her cervix in a rough manner that
caused Davis pain. When Davis expressed her discomfort, the woman told
her the pain was common. After the visit, Davis realized her water had
broken. She went to the hospital, where they kept her until she gave
birth the next day.
Whether or not it was the outcome the provider intended, Davis said the
interaction left her wondering if her race was the reason the provider
seemed not to be attentive or listen to her concerns.
Lauren Sayah, a senior research specialist at the University of Illinois
Chicago Center for Research on Women and Gender, said she hopes the
training will make providers more aware of their own biases.
“Having health care providers learn about those biases and
misconceptions will likely help them hopefully see their patients first
as human,” Sayah said.
Sayah added that the training will help educate providers on the other
social factors affecting maternal health outcomes for people of color.
Access to healthy neighborhoods, green spaces, healthy food and
affordable housing are all important aspects of “culturally competent
health care,” Sayah said.
The measure passed the House with bipartisan support despite opposition
from most of the Republican caucus. Senate sponsor Willie Preston,
D-Chicago, said he believes the bill will make a difference in the
experiences of mothers.
Under the measure, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation will be responsible for developing the curriculum, but Sayah
said she hoped the department would consult with community members when
designing the training materials, which she said “adds value and is
necessary in the influence of their care.”
Collier said the National Coalition of 100 Black Women is “ready to help
with implementation” if the department is interested in partnering on
curriculum development.
Although advocates said this bill is not a silver bullet that will fix
the racial disparity in maternal health outcomes, many said it was a
step forward that brought them hope.
“The war is not over, but this battle has been won,” Collier said. “And
I think it is okay for us to be excited, be happy, to check it off and
to celebrate the wins, because we have a long fight ahead of us.”
Maggie Dougherty is a graduate student in journalism
with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media,
Integrated Marketing Communications, and a fellow in its Medill
Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News
Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state
government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is
funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation. |
