After 40 years of practicing obstetrics in Chicago, I never imagined that one of the greatest threats to maternal and newborn safety would not be a medical complication, but the closure of hospital maternity units that have served generations of families.
I have witnessed extraordinary advances in medicine and cared for thousands of mothers and babies. Yet as medical science makes childbirth increasingly safer, we are witnessing a troubling reversal: Hospitals are eliminating maternity services, often redirecting resources toward more profitable areas of care. The hospitals remain open, but their delivery rooms close.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. It is a growing crisis.
Between 2016 and 2023, Illinois lost 32 obstetric hospitals, a 27% net reduction in birthing facilities. For pregnant women, closures mean longer travel, disrupted relationships with physicians, unfamiliar hospitals and potentially dangerous delays in emergencies. Communities also lose experienced teams whose expertise and trust took decades to build.
The financial pressures are real. Declining birth rates, inadequate reimbursement, rising operating costs and workforce shortages make maternity services difficult to sustain. But childbirth cannot be managed like an elective service. Hemorrhages, placental abruption and fetal distress do not wait for convenient hours. Safe obstetric care requires experienced professionals, operating rooms, anesthesia, blood banks and neonatal support around the clock.
If maternity care is essential, reimbursement must reflect the true cost of maintaining that readiness. We must also address the extraordinary medical liability pressures affecting obstetrics.
Illinois urgently needs uniform, enforceable standards before hospitals suspend or close maternity services. These must include assessments of patient travel times, emergency transportation, insurance coverage and the capacity of receiving hospitals to provide safe care.
Not every maternity unit can remain open indefinitely. But closure must be the last resort, not simply a financial decision made without adequate safeguards for patients and communities.
At a time when America is concerned about declining birth rates and an aging population, we should be making it easier — not harder — for families to have children safely.
Preserving maternity care is not simply about keeping delivery rooms open. It is about protecting mothers, babies and the future of our communities.
Dr. Maria Munoz, Morton Grove
Sometimes just a nudge can have seniors reminiscing and marveling how much they've been exposed to over the years, including the many wonderful immigrants they've met.
Lithuania supplied all four of my grandparents. Three came to Chicago via the iconic Ellis Island in its pre-World War I heyday. In my own slowly widening world, my childhood neighborhood had many German-and- Polish-born parents and grandparents, all earnest and industrious. Grade school introduced me to a mannerly Austrian kid who'd grow up to become an accomplished professional soccer goalie. Summer camp in Wisconsin delivered a native Irish counselor.
High school added Russians and Ukrainians to bolster our first soccer team. In college, I encountered students from Greece, India, Mexico, Nigeria and the Philippines. By late middle-age I spanned the alphabet, from Afghanistan to Zaire/the Congo. And in retirement, I keep filling openings, meeting former residents of Bosnia, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica and Tanzania.
Many U.S.-born adults share this experience. Hopefully, they also share my general satisfaction and question the idler tag often applied today to undocumented newcomers. Because from what I've seen, all are typically respectable and responsible people, practical, unspoiled, optimistic and resourceful enough to overcome assimilation's challenges.
That conviction prompts me to again endorse National Immigrants Day today — Oct. 28. President Ronald Reagan, who established the day back in 1987, grasped immigrants' cumulative contributions to the country through the decades.
Tom Gregg, Niles
Over three years ago Wadee AlFayoumi, a 6-year-old Palestinian American Muslim boy, was murdered in a Chicago suburb. In those three years, our Palestinian, Muslim, Black, Brown and immigrant communities have continued facing an assault on our rights and identities — and we’ve organized together to demand better.
Protests. Legislative advocacy. "Know your rights" education. Rapid response networks. Coalition building and resource sharing.
We also have another tool — our vote.
Regardless of your background or political party, one thing is becoming harder for all to ignore: Our democracy is at a tipping point. The midterm elections are crucial to determine what comes next for our country.
Our tax dollars are funding Israel’s genocide, forever wars and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement kidnappings instead of mental health support, basic needs and effective safety solutions. Attacks on voting rights and a surge in racism and anti-Muslim hate are concerted attempts to intimidate our communities out of the democratic process.
But despite the crises we’re facing, I hold onto hope.
In my role as executive director of the Muslim Civic Coalition — a nonpartisan community advocacy organization fighting for civic justice across Illinois — I hear from community members every day about their concerns and dreams for the future.
Many talk about the need to invest in our schools rather than foreign militaries, mirroring the polls and what others from outside the community often tell me.
Even as free speech is stifled, we have built bridges, shifted opinions and educated policymakers, although much work remains. We know the power we hold, how to hold our public officials accountable and the difference we can make this November.
Like other traditions, our faith calls us to be engaged citizens, to support the oppressed and uphold justice. And when we all vote, we elect just leaders, protect our communities and create the future we deserve.
Key election information and how to report problems on Election Day are available in multiple languages at the coalition’s online voter hub.
Check it out.
Amina Barhumi, Orland Park
