Christy Turlington Burns: ‘Lack of political will’ keeping lawmakers from tackling maternal health

Christy Turlington Burns is taking her maternal health mission to Washington, saying lawmakers aren’t focusing enough on the issue due to a “lack of political will.”

The model and Every Mother Counts founder spoke earlier this week at a Glamour magazine event in D.C. marking the Hamilton Hotel’s 100th anniversary, which brought together high-profile figures from the political, media and nonprofit worlds.

Turlington Burns said she first learned about maternal mortality rates after she experienced complications following the birth of her now-18-year-old daughter.

“I assumed this was something that was happening elsewhere,” Turlington Burns said, before researching global statistics “opened [her] eyes to what was happening in the U.S.”

“We were ranked 41st at the time, today we’re ranked 55th. So we continue to fall behind,” Turlington Burns, echoing data from the World Health Organization, told Glamour editor-in-chief Samantha Barry.

Asked by Barry why improving maternal health isn’t “as high up on the agenda as it should be,” Turlington Burns replied, “I mean I always think it comes down to political will, right?”

“When we value the lives of girls and women, then the way that we prioritize everything is elevated,” she said.

“We know how to keep women safe. We know what they need to be able to live healthy lives and to thrive in whatever phase of their reproductive lives they are in. And yet we have these unfair expectations of what a woman, or girl, or birthing person is put upon them, which ultimately has an impact on their lives for the rest of their lives.”

The 53-year-old “Every Mile, Every Mother” documentary director made a push for paid parental leave and criticized the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June that overturned the right to an abortion in her remarks before the majority-female dinner guests at the Hamilton Hotel in Washington.

Urging the attendees to head to the polls for the midterm elections, she said, “I really encourage you all to show up. We all have a voice.”

Among the notable names at the “Glamorous 100th Anniversary” soiree: CNN’s Dana Bash and Abby Phillip, Ashley Biden, “Me Too” activist Tarana Burke, Michelle Obama communications director Crystal Carson, Education Department chief of staff Sheila Nix, MSNBC’s Symone Sanders seen chatting with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Campaign Zero co-founder Brittany Packnett Cunningham, #1000BlackGirlBooks founder Marley Dias and Paid Leave for All founding director Dawn Huckelbridge.

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