Posted on 01/31/2020 3:24:52 PM PST by spintreebob
“Research is clear: access to care and other socioeconomic factors plays a significant role in maternal mortality rates in Georgia and throughout this country and actually Georgia has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the country,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta at a hearing this week. Pixabay
WASHINGTON — Black mothers and babies are dying at staggering rates in Georgia.
The national statistics are alarming: black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. American Indian women are also more than twice as likely to die due to pregnancy-related issues than white women.
Overall, American women are more likely to die from causes related to childbirth or pregnancy than in any other developed nation, according to the CDC. Research has suggested that about half of those deaths are preventable.
The problem has gotten worse. Nationwide, maternal mortality rates more than doubled in the United States between 1990 and 2013, according to the World Health Organization.
The nation’s preterm birth rate has also been on the rise, with black women impacted disproportionately. In 2018, the overall preterm birth rate rose for the fourth consecutive year, according to Stacey Stewart, president and CEO of the March of Dimes. The preterm birth rate among black women is 49% higher than the rate among all other women.
“This problem runs far deeper than many want to even acknowledge,” Rep. Lucy McBath, a Marietta Democrat, said Tuesday at a hearing before the House Education and Labor Committee.
“We have a responsibility to these families to make sure that their safety and health is the number one priority,” McBath added. “Research is clear: access to care and other socioeconomic factors plays a significant role in maternal mortality rates in Georgia and throughout this country and actually Georgia has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the country.”
Georgia ranks 49th out of the 50 U.S. states in terms of maternal mortality rates (Louisiana is No. 50). Georgia had a maternal death rate of 66.3 per 100,000 live births from 2013 to 2017, according to federal data released by America’s Health Rankings.
That’s far worse than the national average of 29.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
The state has also received low marks in a recent analysis of preterm births.
Georgia received an F on the March of Dimes’ 2019 report card assessing infant and maternal health. Between 2015 and 2017, 11.5% of babies were born preterm in the state. And the preterm birth rate among black women in the state was 45% higher than the rate among all other women.
Infants born in the southeastern United States are much more likely to be born early than those born in other parts of the country, Stewart testified to lawmakers at the hearing Tuesday.
Nationwide, the infant mortality rate for black women’s babies was more than twice the rates among white, Asian and Hispanic women in 2017, according to U.S. News and World Report. More than a third of infant deaths that year were tied to preterm birth.
‘Not partisan issues’
Members of Congress and witnesses pointed to a variety of reasons for the racial disparities and the troubling mortality rates. Among them: implicit bias, a lack of access to quality healthcare and a lack of adequate health insurance.
Joia Crear-Perry, an obstetrician and the founder of the National Birth Equity Collaborative, pointed to racism as a key factor.
“The legacy of a hierarchy of human value based upon the color of our skin continues to cause differences in health outcomes, including maternal mortality,” she said. “Racism is the risk factor, not my black skin.”
She and other witnesses urged lawmakers to swiftly enact legislation to address the crisis.
“We cannot wait to take action, because the state of maternal and child health in our nation is not fine,” said Stewart. “It’s not fine that 700 new moms die each year because of pregnancy complications. It’s not fine that babies of color die at rates far higher than white babies. It’s not fine that families must make a choice between earning a paycheck and working in conditions that put the health of mom and baby in danger.”
Ultimately, Crear-Perry said, “What black women in the U.S. need is accountability. We need to know that our lives are valued. This accountability may be complicated, but government still has an obligation to act. Racism, classism and gender oppression are killing all of us, from rural to urban America.”
McBath discussed her own high-risk pregnancy, noting that she had to take short-term disability when she was a flight attendant “just to be able to make sure that I brought my son into the world.”
Republicans on the committee indicated a willingness to pursue legislation with the Democratic majority on the issues, although some urged caution when shaping new policies and others expressed concerns about expanding access to abortions.
“Bringing a child into the world should be an exciting and joyful time for women and families, not one clouded by fear and by worry,” said Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican. He said that because the causes of the trends are unclear, Congress should be careful about imposing government mandates that may not solve the problems.
Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican, said, “I can never support the fact that abortion is a good choice for a woman or a child or society, because it again reduces the value of human life itself. I understand there’s disagreement on that.” Still, he said, “there’s a lot of things we can agree on and move forward.”
Even during a time when bipartisan compromise has become rare on Capitol Hill, North Carolina Democratic Rep. Alma Adams said that maternal and infant health “are not partisan issues.”
She said the federal government “must do more” to stop the maternal and infant health crisis in the United States. She called for legislation that addresses disparities in maternal and infant health while expanding access to health care and nutrition programs.
Adams added, “I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that any mother anywhere in the United States can receive the quality care and support she needs to navigate a healthy pregnancy and raise a healthy child.”
Premarital sex, welfare, no husband/father/daddy around, welfare, lack of education, welfare, unemployment...and too much gubmin help.
Why bother to do ANYTHING but breed more welfare babies? Especially when the gubmin pays them more for each baby?
Also, I think, that black ministers won't TOUCH the issue of daddy-less homes and welfare...not if they want to keep their jobs as minister.
Also, how many have had multiple previous abortions, which can compromise the integrity of the womb? Or venereal diseases?
That last one is a biggie. Having a baby can trigger unexpectedly negative emotions in a woman's partner (from anger to jealousy to the accusation that he's "being trapped"). Those emotions can play out brutally against the mother and her unborn baby.
A 2011 NIH study found that pregnancy-associated homicide claimed more lives than many obstetric complications, including hemorrhage and preeclampsia ---and that husbands and/or boyfriends were linked to nearly half of those deaths.
I think that abortion is the elephant in the room here. A history of previous abortion is as damaging to a pregnancy as smoking, causing premature births and miscarriages. Smoking can be stopped, but a woman cannot go into the past and undo her previous decision to get pregnant despite having no intention to have the baby alive. The damage of abortion is permanent. And black women are especially targeted by the abortion industry.
Even married, college-educated, middle class black women receiving prenatal care have higher rates of pregnancy complication and delivery than their white peers.
Part of this might be a biological tendency. Premature and low birth weight black infants have a higher survival rate than matched white infants, which suggests an innate biology.
I have read many accounts of white women being dismissed or misdiagnosed when they present with preeclampsia symptoms, so it must happen to black women too, and likely more often.
On average black women are more likely to be obese, diabetic, hypertensive, to have STDs, to have violent partners, and live in violent neighborhoods, to have stressful and unstable living situations, and to be unwed. Black girls in their teens have better pregnancy outcomes than women in their twenties, suggesting cumulative stress and health damage.
A campaign to improve pregnancy outcomes for black women would be an excellent thing but it would truly have to be a community reformation, not just taxpayer funded programs.
JAMA published a study many years ago about how even poorer immigrant communities had much lower infant mortality rates. 99%of this is due to human behavior. But let’s attribute it to racism and a lack of government spending. That fits the deep state agenda.
Your abortion theory might be true. Maternal and infant deaths have a pattern.
1) Young teens to young to bear children
2) Women of child bearing age 18-35 wWo have a bad lifestyle.
3) Women over 35, some over 40, who waited too long to bear their first child. Most likely some of these career women had abortions. It would be difficult to find the data and prove it one way or the other.
Women over 35 who have given birth to 5 or 6 children already rarely have a problem with the last one. It is that first full term pregnancy and first baby and first post-delivery experience of the women who waited too long that is a problem area.
, “What black women in the U.S. need is accountability. We need to know that our lives are valued. This accountability may be complicated, but government still has an obligation to act. Racism, classism and gender oppression are killing all of us, from rural to urban America.”
It ain’t whitie impregnating your dumb ass. It’s attitude and apathy. Don’t give a shit, then you live like shit. As for accountability, you keep voting for the same Democrap idiots over and over. They don’t care! Even the black people that you vote for the first thing they look to do is move into a rich white neighborhood. You don’t hold them accountable because you stop caring. See a ‘D’ and pull the lever like Pavlov’s dog. You’ll get change when they know they can’t rely on you as a token voter!
Don’t forget too much sugar. You’d be amazed at how many complications arise from that.
Those are all connected to the comment I made above.
...and domestic violence.
Yes,domestic violence can be a factor. And that goes to upbringing...boys who are taught that it's OK to beat your wife and girls that are taught to expect abuse as adults.
See Post #31
Do you have sources for the abortion/later pregnancy complications connection?
Too many young females getting pregnant and not going for prenatal care
I saw it in a CDC chart back in the 1990s or early 2000s, when I was in graduate school. It was a statistic kind of hidden in a table.
It would take some time for me to find it again.
Stacy Abrams rolled over on them?
Yeah, healthy for the Mom.
Not so healthy for the baby...
Yes, they never take into consideration the number of teenage mothers, possible drug use, smoking, poor diet, etc. To even hint that people need to be responsible for themselves is racist.
Poverty is this country is not really poverty. When they say people are living in poverty they do not count non-cash government benefits. So, people receiving food stamps, welfare, free or subsidized housing, help with utilities, free education for the kids plus the 3 meals a day they provide for school kids year round, and even a free phone. Someone can be getting all this and have a small income and still be counted as living in poverty. In addition there are numerous private charities to count that provide food, school supplies, blankets in the winter, and fans in the summer, etc. The only way anyone can be hungry in the US is if they are mentally or addicted to drugs or alcohol, or their parents are neglecting or abusing them. It’s a bunch of hooey.
but I don't have any answers...pre term babies are at risk for lower IQ and other problems.....
my ex dil, a black woman with a grad degree, health conscious, thin, eats very well, organic as possible....visited her OB gyn frequently......
she still had problems with her pregnancy and our grandson was pre term, very small, and is now on the autism spectrum........she did everything right...
racism? as in, every single nurse and doctor in Georgia is other-than-black?
or racism in genetic markers?
or racism in lifestyle?
or racism in social services handing out food stamps, free housing, free prenatal care, free post-natal care, free education, free doctors and free hospital delivery?
that racism?
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