{"id":300531,"date":"2023-10-23T14:42:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T19:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=300531"},"modified":"2023-10-23T10:40:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T15:40:56","slug":"maternity-care-suffering-rural-areas-not-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/maternity-care-suffering-rural-areas-not-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"Maternity care suffers in rural areas while media falsely blames pro-life laws\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two Alabama hospitals will be closing their maternity wards by the end of the month, according to <\/span>NBC<\/span><\/a>. The women in two counties will, like so many women living outside the most populous zip codes in the United States, be forced to drive 100 miles or more to deliver babies or receive maternity care. <\/span><\/p>\n

While the mainstream media is quick to push the abortion agenda by blaming pro-life laws, the actual reasons for maternal care deserts are complex, and coming up with real solutions will prove elusive so long as the media narrative ignores the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack of available maternity care is not caused by pro-life laws\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The new standard media narrative has made these closings about pro-life laws. For example, in March of this year, the <\/span>shuttering of a maternity ward in Idaho<\/span><\/a> made headlines when a press release blamed its closing on the state\u2019s new pro-life laws. However the same statement gave many more reasons \u2013 many of which were actually measurable, such as low patient volume, and thus low demand. Yet media outlets peddled their preferred narrative, claiming an <\/span>unequivocally direct connection<\/span><\/a> between the closing and the state\u2019s pro-life laws, while practically ignoring other reasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, given <\/span>how few OBGYN physicians commit abortions<\/span><\/a>, there is little evidence that pro-life laws are causally related to maternity care deserts. <\/span><\/p>\n

The fact is, the closure of maternity wards is not a problem only for states with pro-life laws. According to the <\/span>March of Dimes<\/span><\/a>, these voids exist in abortion-friendly<\/em> states \u2013 the problem isn\u2019t laws, but population density. Dr. Zsakeba Henderson of the March of Dimes pointed out the discrepancy between the number of obstetricians and where they choose to live and practice. \u201cThe number of obstetric providers (meaning obstetricians and certified midwives) in the U.S. actually increased \u2014 by 1.7% \u2014 between the 2020 and 2022 reports, Henderson says. But only about 7% of providers serve rural areas,\u201d reports <\/span>NPR<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One often-overlooked reason why rural areas are obstetrically underserved relates to the affordability of healthcare or health insurance. For instance, the March of Dimes report includes in its definition of \u201clow access\u201d to maternity care a metric regarding whether 10% or more of women in a county are without health insurance. Another reason is demographic shifts and the ensuing economic incentives. Shifts in <\/span>local populations\u2019 ages<\/span><\/a> also lead to <\/span>lower birth volumes and thus lower demand<\/span><\/a>, leaving the fewer number of women of childbearing age subject to the law of supply and demand affecting their access to maternity care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n