Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., center, accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, left, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., right, speaks about the need to protect rights to in vitro fertilization (IVF), on the Senate steps at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo / Ben Curtis)

The Senate vote was Democrats’ latest attempt to force Republicans into a defensive stance on women’s health issues and highlight policy differences between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, especially as Trump has called himself a “ leader on IVF.”

Remember Him Remember Her founder Paris Jackson, center, speaks with Nave Wellness Center therapists Alisha Lewis, left, and Alaina Harris, right, during a grief support group session on Aug. 17, 2024. (Courtesy of Raven Fisher)

The nonprofit Remember Him Remember Her has partnered with Nave Wellness Center to provide free monthly grief support groups to people navigating parental loss.

An infant and audience member sit in the crowd of a news conference in Chicago’s Fulton Market District neighborhood. Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 5142 into law, with the hope of lowering infant and maternal mortality rates across the state. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Dilpreet Raju)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are two-and-a-half times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than White women. A new state law aims to remedy that by expanding insurance coverage during and after pregnancy. 

“Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood”

Through a decade of research and dozens of personal anecdotes, the book challenges conventional ideas around adoption in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker holds a signed House Bill 5142, also referred to as the birth equity initiative, on July 29, 2024. Advocates said the time is past due to lower infant and maternal mortality rates in Illinois. (Dilpreet Raju / Capitol News Illinois)
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The law requires insurers that provide state-regulated health care plans to cover pregnancy and postpartum services for covered individuals, including midwife services, doula visits, and lactation consultants for up to 12 months after the end of a pregnancy.

Cam Barrett appears virtually from her car during a Washington state legislature hearing on Feb. 14, 2024. (TVW via CNN Newsource)
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Gen Zers, who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, have almost never known a world without social media. As adults, they’re now unraveling the effects of having their childhoods documented online.

Captain Ruben Flowers and First Officer Ruben Flowers recreating the 1990s photo in 2023. (Courtesy of Southwest Airlines)

After rediscovering the old photo, the father and son added a goal: not only did they want to fly together, they wanted to recreate the 1990s flight deck photo, over two decades later. Not just as father and son, but as colleagues and co-pilots.

Instructional materials are posted on a wall of a kindergarten class in Maryland on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. (AP Photo / Julia Nikhinson, File)

More parents are questioning routine childhood vaccinations that they used to automatically accept, an effect of the political schism that emerged during the pandemic around COVID-19 vaccines, experts say.

Alexander, 3, who is being treated for developmental delays, holds a stuffed animal and watches Paw Patrol in the living room of his West Chicago, Ill., home Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (AP Photo / Charles Rex Arbogast)

The federally mandated Early Intervention program is plagued by chronic staffing shortages nationwide, leaving thousands of desperate parents frustrated: They know their children need support, they’re aware of proven therapies that could make a difference, but they have to wait for months to get the help they need.

(Thanasis Zovoilis / Digital Vision / Getty Images)

Having anywhere from one to four hours of screen time per day at age 1 is linked with higher risks of developmental delays in communication, fine motor, problem-solving and personal and social skills by age 2, according to the study.

Twin sisters Ellie and Natanya Sterling arrived in Highland Park after a journey that began in Ukraine. (Family Photo)

From Ukraine to Highland Park, twin sisters Ellie and Natanya Sterling have taken their parents on the ride of a lifetime.

(CNN)

In the Chicago area, Mothers’ Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes is the only accredited milk bank. Despite a slow increase in supply, the bank is still providing this valuable resource.  

(WTTW News)

As of Jan. 1, any city employee who’s worked for at least one year will receive 12 weeks of paid parental time off. In a country that has zero guaranteed paid parental leave, Chicago is one of a handful of cities expanding this benefit.

Karen Alpert

A local author and blogger's hilarious take on parenting in her new book "I Want My Epidural Back."

So what if the kids have a television for a babysitter and a Big Mac for dinner—five nights in a row? They're alive. These are the hilarious confessions of Chicago mommy blogger Karen Alpert, who is out with her second book, "I Want My Epidural Back: Adventures in Mediocre Parenting."

The majority of Chicago Public Schools students in 3rd-8th grade are taking the ISAT test this week, though parent groups who oppose the test say the number of students who have opted out of the test continues to rise. Elizabeth Brackett reports. Watch a web extra video interview with Sarah Chambers, a teacher at Saucedo Scholastic Academy.