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Friday, August 26, 2022

Pregnancy in the US Just Got More Dangerous-Post Dobbs v Jackson Decision

 

Pregnancy in the US Just Got More Dangerous-Maternal Mortality

 A woman in the U.S. is more likely to die from maternity now than her mother. (Ritchie, 2013) The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate of the industrialized nations, ranked 57th, tied with Latvia with 19 deaths per 100,000 live births. By contrast, the countries with the lowest maternal mortality rates including; Iceland, Norway, Japan, and Singapore have less than 2 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. If this metric isn’t poor enough, women are far more likely to die from complications of childbirth in the US since the overturn of Roe-v-Wade in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision. The wrongly decided ruling actually interferes with physician’s ability to treat their patients. There are many reasons why maternities are not carried to term, including fetal failure to develop, life threatening health complications for the mother, and unfortunately, lapses in the health system. This article reviews political trends in reproductive health care in the United States and impacts on maternal health.

Top reasons for Maternal Mortality in the United States

Hemorrhage

Blood clots

Hypertension

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia

Infections

Obstructed labor

 Comparison of maternal outcomes in states which have near total bans on abortion

Researchers at Tulane University used data from the National Center for Health Statistics for thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia and ranked eight abortion restricting mandates by state.  The criteria included: gestational limits for abortion, reduction in the number of Planned Parenthood Clinics, state mandated counseling, mandatory waiting periods, mandatory ultrasound, mandatory parental involvement, denial of abortion coverage in private insurance plans, restrictions on public funding for abortion.

Findings for state health policy decisions to maternal mortality: (Vilda, 2021)

 1.  States with higher scores for abortion restrictions had an overall increase of 7% for maternal deaths

 2. States that refused to expand state Medicaid benefits when the Affordable Care Act was passed had a      29% higher total maternity mortality rate

           3.  States with a licensed physician requirement (versus nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant) had a       51% higher total maternal mortality rate than those without the mandate

        4.  Gestational limits for abortion had a 38% increase in maternal mortality

 The evidence clearly shows more women are dying preventable deaths due to pregnancy in the United States, than other peer industrialized countries. Given the political climate in this dystopian nation, Kevin McCarthy or some other politician will have the power to decide which women have access to health care and by virtue of that, who lives and who dies. Meanwhile the minority view of the evangelical religious right is congratulating themselves. Surely this will not stand.

 And this is the healthpolicymaven signing off encouraging you not to sign blanket medical releases when you agree to inpatient procedures, do stipulate that for which you agree and decline. Opinions expressed are those of Roberta Winter, a freelance writer and do not give medical advice. She is the author of a guidebook to the US medical system, which was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2013.

https://www.amazon.com/Unraveling-U-S-Health-Care-Personal/dp/1442222972

 Works Cited

Ritchie, M. R. (2013). Maternity Mortality. OurWorldinData.org. OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved August 26, 2022, from https://ourworldindata.org/maternal-mortality#citation

Vilda, D. W. (2021). State abortion policies and maternal death in the US, 2015-2018. American Journal of Public Health, 111, 1696-1704. doi:https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306396

Winter, J. (2022, August 12). Why a Life-Threatening Pregnancy Complication Is on the Rise. The New Yorker. Retrieved August 26, 2022, from https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/why-a-life-threatening-pregnancy-complication-is-on-the-rise?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_081222&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=62c6ee59096ac1a

 

 

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