LOS ANGELES — On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris toured Baby2Baby in Baldwin Hills to spotlight maternal health crisis. This comes just after the White House announced a new blueprint to address the crisis.

Locally, there is a big push to do the same. Dr. Melissa Franklin, director of maternal, child and adolescent health at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, says Black women are four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications in the county.

The Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, a part of Charles R. Drew University of Science and Medicine, is working to address the issue by offering free and low-cost services to include prenatal and postpartum care.