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
