The U.S. maternal mortality rate is a shame to the nation.
Unlike every other developed nation, which has seen their maternal mortality rates steadily decline for years, the U.S. maternal mortality rate continues to experience upward trends.
According to the Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, there are currently 18.5 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the United States. This rate is more than three times higher than the rate in Canada and the U.K., which makes us the country with the worst maternal death rate of all developed nations.
There’s also a large racial disparity in these deaths. Black women are three times more likely than white women to die from complications. For Texas, the state with the worst rate in the developed world, the situation is even more dire. Between 2011 and 2012 the state’s death rate doubled, hitting a high of 33 per 100,000 live births in 2012, according to a study published last year by the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
The reasons for these deaths are complex, and researchers point to a multitude of contributing factors. For Texas, the main causes are hypertension, heart problems and drug overdoses. Some women’s health advocates point to the 2011 state cuts to Planned Parenthood and other family health clinics, as well as the rejection of medicaid expansion. Nationwide experts say multiple causes, such as obesity, age and unequal health care access all play a role.
However, not all states are suffering from this trend. Alarmed by its rising maternal mortality rate, California took action in 2006 by forming the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, dedicated to maternal and infant health. It reviewed every maternal death for almost a decade, and identified common risk factors.
The state used the results to create a training program to help hospitals deal with pregnancy complications and emergencies. The program has been remarkably successful. While the nation’s maternal mortality rate continues to rise, California’s is steadily declining and is currently at a rate of 6 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The successes in California and other developed nations prove that this trend can be reversed. With so much national attention on healthcare reform, it’s important to keep the health of pregnant women and the U.S. maternal death crisis at the forefront of public discussion.
Health care access is key to having a healthy low-risk pregnancy. Demands by some politicians to repeal the laws protecting maternal benefits in health insurance and make cuts to medicaid could threaten that access for many lower income women.
Placing barriers on pregnant women’s health care is always unconscionable, but it is especially so at a time when the United States is already falling so far behind other developed nations in preventing maternal deaths. Citizens must remain vigilant in protecting programs that help pregnant women have safe, healthy pregnancies and access to health care.
Osie Evans is a 21-year-old English junior from Natchitoches, Louisiana.