Rep. Lauren Underwood: Personal Loss Fuels Fight for Black Maternal Health
TL/DR –
Rep. Lauren Underwood, after losing her friend Shalon Irving to preventable pregnancy-related complications, co-founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus to address the crisis facing Black mothers in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are three times as likely as white women to die of pregnancy-related health conditions. In response, Underwood sponsored the 2021 Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, which aims to address inequities in housing, nutrition, and transportation that affect maternal health outcomes, improve maternal mental health resources, data collection, and combat racial bias in prenatal care.
Turning Personal Loss into Action: Rep. Lauren Underwood’s Advocacy for Black Maternal Health
The fatal and preventable pregnancy-related complications experienced by Shalon Irving, a friend of Rep. Lauren Underwood, inspired the latter to push Congress to address the critical issue of black maternal health. This crisis disproportionately affects black mothers, necessitating immediate action.
This piece was excerpted from Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent Change in Congress by Maya L. Kornberg, published on March 10.
Since 2018, the incoming class of congressional representatives has brought a fresh perspective to the political scene. For Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), her personal tragedy was a catalyst for establishing the Black Maternal Health Caucus to address an ongoing health crisis among black mothers.
We did this because women are dying every day, and I am the first and only young Black woman who has ever been here.
Rep. Lauren Underwood
Black women in America are three times more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A poignant example of this discrepancy is the death of Shalon Irving, a successful scientist, and friend of Underwood. Both women became close while studying at Johns Hopkins University. Irving passed away three weeks after the birth of her daughter, Soliel, in the winter of 2017.
An investigation by NPR and ProPublica revealed that Irving’s history of hypertension should have prompted doctors to conduct more thorough monitoring. The case indicates the widespread discrimination against pregnant women of color in healthcare.
Underwood sponsored the 2021 Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, which aims to address disparities in housing, nutrition, and transportation that impact maternal health outcomes. The Act also outlines plans to enhance maternal mental health resources, data collection, and efforts to combat racial bias in prenatal care.
The congresswoman’s advocacy stems from her personal experience and reflects her belief in the power of representatives to shape legislative agendas. She stated, “I think that American people assume that Congress works on the issues that are most important for our country. No, Congress works on the issues that its members raise. And if you do not have a Congress that reflects the lived experiences of the American people, their issues don’t get raised.”
This piece is an excerpt, courtesy of Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026, lightly edited for style and clarity.
The book Stuck, by senior research fellow at the Brennan Center, Maya Kornberg, documents the last 50 years of congressional reform efforts and the growing barriers that have prevented these reforms from creating significant change.
Author Maya L. Kornberg, Ph.D is a senior research fellow and manager at NYU Law’s Brennan Center for Justice. Her expertise lies in American politics, and her work has appeared in several major media outlets. A graduate from Stanford University, Columbia University, and Oxford University, Kornberg has experience in academia, the UN, Inter-Parliamentary Union, and several democracy-focused nonprofits.
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