It’s now more dangerous to have a baby in Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, maternal mortality in Texas is up 40% across all ethnic groups in the past two decades. The Hill reports that maternal mortality in Texas is on par with that of Syria.
While white women’s mortality more than doubled between 1999 and 2019, it’s worse for black women. Black women were more than twice as likely to die in the year after delivery than white or Hispanic women.
More recently, infant deaths in Texas increased by 11% in 2022, and infant deaths due to severe genetic birth defects increased by 22%.
Statistics
Here are some statistics regarding maternal mortality rates in the United States:
- In 2021, there were 1,205 maternal deaths in the United States.
- The maternal mortality rate in 2021 was 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births.
- This is a significant increase from the maternal mortality rate in 2019, which was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births.
- The maternal mortality rate for Black women is 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than twice the rate for White women (26.6 deaths per 100,000 live births).
- The maternal mortality rate is highest in Mississippi, with 82.5 deaths per 100,000 live births.
There are multiple reasons for increased maternal mortality rates in the United States. Two of them are the lack of access to quality healthcare, especially in rural and underserved areas, and the increasing racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare—two areas we can do better in.
Solutions
To help fix this issue in Texas and all states, we can vote for legislators who care about women’s health and who defer to doctors, science, and the medical community rather than their pastors or wealthy donors. Those folks shouldn’t be making medical decisions for others.
Next, if you’re of childbearing age, it is not wrong for you to take care of your family and look for a safer place to live. There are still states that care about women and care about women’s health. Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Minnesota, and New Hampshire are the safest states to have a baby.
If you are pregnant right now or you soon will be, take good care of yourself and speak up if you don’t feel well. Most pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.
Trust your body and advocate for yourself. You know your body best. If something doesn’t feel right, get help. Listen to your gut feeling.
Look for urgent maternal warning signs during pregnancy and for a year after. Get help if you or someone you know isn’t feeling right.