Not surprisingly, the recent abortion discussion does not include an admission of the inadequacies of our current maternal child health care.
Pregnancy is not risk-free.
The U.S. maternal death rate is 450 percent higher than Canada’s.
Why?
Because Canadian pregnant women have easy access to health care.
Two states banning abortions are prime examples of failures to provide adequate medical care for pregnant women and their children.
Georgia has the nation’s highest rate of maternal deaths; for their black women it is almost four times the national average.
Half of their 159 counties have no obstetric physicians and only 46 of those counties have hospital labor and delivery units.
Politicians refused to expand Medicaid to cover more health care for pregnant women.
Texas has the highest rate in the nation of women receiving no prenatal care during their first trimester and the highest percentage of poor children under 18 without health insurance.
It is morally reprehensible to force a child raped by an unhinged family member to be forced to endure a high-risk pregnancy and possibly her own life.
One could assume that to be pro-life means caring about the lives of pregnant women and their children.
Sadly the commonality of abortion banning states show an appalling unwillingness to assure adequate medical care for the woman and children in their state.
Since pregnancy requires one egg and one sperm, do you ever wonder why there are no known prohibited medical restrictions on the male reproductive system?
Norma Turner RN, MPH
Port Angeles