guardian | As the Republican-led state legislature has slashed funding to
reproductive healthcare clinics, the maternal mortality rate doubled
over just a two-year period. About half of Texas lacks ready access to OB-GYN care, making it
difficult for women to obtain contraception or for pregnant women to
confirm the health of their babies.
The rate of Texas
women who died from complications related to pregnancy doubled from
2010 to 2014, a new study has found, for an estimated maternal mortality
rate that is unmatched in any other state and the rest of the developed
world.
The finding comes from a report, appearing in the September issue of
the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, that the maternal mortality rate
in the United States increased between 2000 and 2014, even while the
rest of the world succeeded in reducing its rate. Excluding California,
where maternal mortality declined, and Texas, where it surged, the
estimated number of maternal deaths per 100,000 births rose to 23.8 in
2014 from 18.8 in 2000 – or about 27%.
But the report singled out Texas for special concern, saying the
doubling of mortality rates in a two-year period was hard to explain “in
the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval”.
