Agencies
Services
Maternal Health
On September 25, 2025, IDPH and key partners released the first of its kind Illinois’ Blueprint for Birth Equity.
This blueprint builds on the work of past and current partners across sectors and leverages existing research and insights about the barriers to achieving optimal maternal and birth outcomes, including analysis and recommendations from the 2023 Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report. In addition, this blueprint represents a year-long engagement process that drew expertise from leaders across multiple sectors, including state agencies, maternal health experts, community leaders, health care providers, and parents.
This blueprint offers an assessment of what the state of Illinois is doing to improve maternal health and birth equity and is intended to complement and align with the efforts of health care providers, advocates, researchers, and local leaders across the state. Among the contributors were four Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies with significant responsibility for maternal health and birth equity: the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). These core agencies were joined by additional public agencies whose work intersects with key drivers of maternal health, including the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI), Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).
Maternal Health
Maternal health is the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. For many women, motherhood is a rewarding experience. For others it is a time of ill health and sometimes even death. Direct causes of maternal morbidity and mortality include hemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labor. Many of these deaths can be avoided, as medical interventions are well known. Access to medical care before, during, and after childbirth is essential to the health and well being of each mother.
Medical Patient Rights of Women (Pregnancy and Childbirth)
Under Public Act 101-0445, effective January 1, 2020, the Medical Patient Rights Act was amended by requiring information about rights with regard to pregnancy and childbirth.
