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A Dangerous Place to Be Pregnant Is Getting Even Scarier

4 points by curmudgeon22 4y ago

curmudgeon22 4y ago
Some ominous info lower down in the article: > For every 100,000 women who give birth in Germany, fewer than 4 die. In Canada, the figure is 8; in the UK, a bit fewer than 9. In the US, the number is 24. > According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the maternal mortality rate in cities is about 18 deaths per 100,000 births. In rural counties, that figure is 29, roughly on par with Syria.
- aerostable_slug 4y ago
  TIL Syria has excellent health care given their conflict status. They outperform all of Sub-Saharan Africa in maternal mortality by an order of magnitude.[0] One wonders if/how that relates to having a dictator who was a practicing physician with a wife who was also educated in the West (and the daughter of a physician)? [0]: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/report/2021-report/progress-indicators/maternal-mortality/ https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/report/2021-repo...
josephcsible 4y ago
> Bend is the only hospital in a 12,000-square-mile area that delivers babies. This seems like a remarkably poor metric to use, because it could either be a 62-mile-radius circle centered on that hospital, or a 1-mile wide strip that snakes all over the state and narrowly misses several other such hospitals. Also, if you told most people to guess the radius of the corresponding circle, they'd probably be way off.
aerostable_slug 4y ago
It would be interesting to see the actual data on the number of foreign nationals entering the US to give birth — either to have an "anchor baby" or, as the article points out, because they don't have access to a hospital — and see how this influences our mortality rates. It's intuitively correct that a Mexican mother with poor or no prenatal care would be at a higher risk for complications involving her and/or her children, but real figures might be useful. It would also be an interesting data point for advocates and critics of stronger protections against illegal alien entries. Does the US have any moral duty to protect the vulnerable and unborn from the shortcomings of their own state, above and beyond things like USAID? Should we have a "charity lane" for high-risk mothers? What would that do in terms of demographic changes in border communities and the US as a whole (assuming some new residents would choose to venture out into the new country their child just "unlocked")? How would their children vote when they come of age?
- moistly 4y ago
  Mexico’s rate was 33 maternal deaths per 100000 births in 2017, and trending down by about 3% per annum, so is perhaps down to 28 now. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MEX/mexico/maternal-mortality-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MEX/mexico/maternal-mo... To no one’s surprise, Louisiana’s maternal mortality rate is 58.1 deaths per 100,000 births, the highest in the US (which itself has the highest rate among developed countries.) To my surprise, New Jersey rolls in at number 4, at 38.1 deaths per 100,000. Texas, bordering Mexico, has a rate of 34.5 — higher than Mexico five years ago. Arizona, 27.3, not really better than Mexico. If a Mexican mother wants safety better than Mexico’s, she’d best head to California where the rate is 4 maternal deaths per 100000 births. She’s otherwise better off staying in Mexico. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/maternal-mortality-rate-by-state https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/maternal-mo... Maternal death rates in the US have been rising, and are going to soar now that a couple dozen states are banning women’s health services. The country is heading straight down the shitter if it doesn’t change direction.

4 points by curmudgeon22 4y ago

Some ominous info lower down in the article: > For every 100,000 women who give birth in Germany, fewer than 4 die. In Canada, the figure is 8; in the UK, a bit fewer than 9. In the US, the number is 24. > According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the maternal mortality rate in cities is about 18 deaths per 100,000 births. In rural counties, that figure is 29, roughly on par with Syria.

aerostable_slug 4y ago
TIL Syria has excellent health care given their conflict status. They outperform all of Sub-Saharan Africa in maternal mortality by an order of magnitude.[0] One wonders if/how that relates to having a dictator who was a practicing physician with a wife who was also educated in the West (and the daughter of a physician)? [0]: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/report/2021-report/progress-indicators/maternal-mortality/ https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/report/2021-repo...

josephcsible 4y ago

> Bend is the only hospital in a 12,000-square-mile area that delivers babies. This seems like a remarkably poor metric to use, because it could either be a 62-mile-radius circle centered on that hospital, or a 1-mile wide strip that snakes all over the state and narrowly misses several other such hospitals. Also, if you told most people to guess the radius of the corresponding circle, they'd probably be way off.

aerostable_slug 4y ago

It would be interesting to see the actual data on the number of foreign nationals entering the US to give birth — either to have an "anchor baby" or, as the article points out, because they don't have access to a hospital — and see how this influences our mortality rates. It's intuitively correct that a Mexican mother with poor or no prenatal care would be at a higher risk for complications involving her and/or her children, but real figures might be useful. It would also be an interesting data point for advocates and critics of stronger protections against illegal alien entries. Does the US have any moral duty to protect the vulnerable and unborn from the shortcomings of their own state, above and beyond things like USAID? Should we have a "charity lane" for high-risk mothers? What would that do in terms of demographic changes in border communities and the US as a whole (assuming some new residents would choose to venture out into the new country their child just "unlocked")? How would their children vote when they come of age?

moistly 4y ago
Mexico’s rate was 33 maternal deaths per 100000 births in 2017, and trending down by about 3% per annum, so is perhaps down to 28 now. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MEX/mexico/maternal-mortality-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/MEX/mexico/maternal-mo... To no one’s surprise, Louisiana’s maternal mortality rate is 58.1 deaths per 100,000 births, the highest in the US (which itself has the highest rate among developed countries.) To my surprise, New Jersey rolls in at number 4, at 38.1 deaths per 100,000. Texas, bordering Mexico, has a rate of 34.5 — higher than Mexico five years ago. Arizona, 27.3, not really better than Mexico. If a Mexican mother wants safety better than Mexico’s, she’d best head to California where the rate is 4 maternal deaths per 100000 births. She’s otherwise better off staying in Mexico. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/maternal-mortality-rate-by-state https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/maternal-mo... Maternal death rates in the US have been rising, and are going to soar now that a couple dozen states are banning women’s health services. The country is heading straight down the shitter if it doesn’t change direction.