Women's Issues
When our nation was founded, I would not have been able to vote or serve in Congress because I’m a woman. In the years since our founding, we’ve come a long way toward ensuring equality for all Americans, regardless of their sex or gender. However, true and lasting equality remains elusive. Women are still paid less for doing the same job as men; women-owned businesses have reduced access to capital. The Equal Rights Amendment has still not been enshrined in the Constitution and politicians are still trying to tell women what healthcare they can and cannot receive. This is wrong.
As Congress continues working to ensure equal rights and protections for women, my priorities are:
- Keeping politicians out of the doctor’s office so women can make the best healthcare decisions for themselves and their families,
- Repealing the discriminatory Hyde Amendment,
- Increasing resources and services for domestic violence survivors, including reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),
- Expanding access to capital for women-owned businesses,
- Ensuring a fair day’s work received a fair and equal day’s pay, and
- Inspiring young women to reach for the stars through STEM careers.
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WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL-02) today led 23 Senators and 11 U.S.
WASHINGTON— U.S. Representatives Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), along with U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Bobby Rush (D-IL-01), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), and Bill Foster (D-IL-11), today pressed Governor Bruce Rauner on what steps his Administration is currently taking—or plans to take—to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in Illinois, as well as to reduce the stark racial disparities.
In 2008, South Shore resident Cheryl King found a lump in her right breast.
When she told a health professional at a South Side facility, he dismissed it, saying many African-Americans have lumps in their breasts. In the three months it took to get appointments and tests with other professionals to verify it was cancer, it had grown into a stage 2 tumor.
King, 59, is not alone. Racial disparities in breast cancer diagnosis and survival rates may have more to do with neighborhood than race, according to a new University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign analysis.
Black mothers are dying and it’s time to do something about it.
Every year, more than 700 American mothers lose their lives to pregnancy or birth-related complications. Some medical professionals estimate that at least half, if not more, of these deaths are entirely preventable.
A new bill has been introduced to Congress by Representative Robin Kelly, D-Illinois to help reverse America’s rising maternal mortality rate. Congresswoman Kelly presented the initiative in early May 2018 to help hundreds of women who die each year as a result of pregnancy.
The new initiative is called the Mothers and Offspring Mortality & Morbidity Awareness (MOMMA) Act.
“Hundreds of American mothers are dying. It’s time for Congress to do something about It,” says Congresswoman Robin Kelly.
A new bill introduced in the United States House of Representatives is aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality rates.
Representative Robin Kelly introduced legislation to the U.S. House of Representatives that would give women who are on Medicaid longer periods of coverage to battle outrageously high rates of maternal and infant mortality in the country.
Congresswoman Robin Kelly, a leading health advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives, released this statement of the President Trump’s dangerous ‘Domestic Gag Rule’ that threatens the healthcare of millions of Americans:
“Today’s decision by the Trump Administration is dangerous and unconstitutional. All Americans have a right to access reproductive healthcare and health information without government interference.
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Robin Kelly, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, unveiled the MOMMA Act to reverse America’s rising maternal mortality rate.
“For decades, the global rate of women dying from, during and after childbirth has been steadily declining. At the same time, the number of American mothers dying has been increasing,” said Congresswoman Kelly. “Hundreds of American mothers are dying; it’s time for Congress to do something about it.”
A House bill introduced Wednesday would expand the amount of time that new moms could remain on Medicaid, in an effort to reduce the number of pregnancy or childbirth-related deaths.
"Too many mothers have died already," said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., who introduced the legislation. "Too many kids are growing up without a mother. Too many families are living a nightmare that doesn't end."
When is it appropriate to take risks? How do you overcome barriers? And, as a leader, how do you find balance?
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Robin Kelly
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