Last week, I was proud to convene a hearing of the Cook County Board’s Health and Hospitals Committee to discuss the maternal mortality crisis, an issue that is too often overlooked across the country.

The urgency of holding this hearing cannot be overstated. We recently heard the news of the tragic death of Tori Bowie, 2016 Olympian and track athlete, who died in her eighth month of pregnancy, likely due to respiratory distress and eclampsia. An astounding 75% of the gold medal-winning team that Bowie was on has either died from or experienced these complications during pregnancy.