Remember Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Puritan society in his novel, The Scarlet Letter? Poor Hester Prynne violated the laws of the church, which meant that she broke society’s laws, too. At the beginning of the novel, the reader joins Hester as she leaves the safety of the town prison and makes her way back into the society that jailed her. Reading the book for the first time in the 11th grade, I had a hard time understanding how, in a free society, the religion of one group could also form its judicial system. That makes the laws of God the same thing as the laws of man. Separation of church and state was also an 11th grade U.S. history lesson, so we students figured no more Hesters could be jailed for breaking the laws of her religion . Or so we thought. We fought a war 250 years ago to separate the colonies from a king who was not only ruler of the government but leader of the church. A quick walk through British history shows what a mess that ideal leads to: remember Henry VIII
The US is number 1 !
A Commonwealth Fund report from 12/2022 that the US leads the rest of the similar high income countries in the world in maternal mortality.
Deaths per 100,000 live births:
- US - Black - 55.3
- US - Total - 23.8 and worsening
- US - White - 19.1
- US - Hispanic - 18.2
- Virginia - 15.6
- New Zealand - 13.6
- Korea, Canada, France, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Netherlands - much lower.
The "best" healthcare system in the world apparently is not doing very well in terms of maternal mortality.
So why is this happening and what does the future look like ?
What are the characteristics of higher mortality states ?
The states with higher maternal mortality rates have:
- Significant abortion restrictions
- Increased maternity care deserts (= fewer healthcare facilities)
- Fewer Obstetricians and Certified Nurse Midwives
- Decreased prenatal care
- Decreased healthcare insurance options including Medicaid Expansion
And the future ?
Not good. The Washington Post is now reporting that "states that have enacted abortion bans saw a 10.5 percent drop in applicants for obstetrics and gynecology residencies in 2023 from the previous year, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges."
Whoa ! Less than a year after the Dobbs decision, fewer doctors want to practice in the OB/Gyn specialties overall and are less likely to want to practice in those hostile abortion restrictive states. It is unclear how this will trend in the future but it is certainly a warning sign. Needless to say, this could be bad for pregnant people in abortion restrictive states that already provide fewer healthcare resources and higher maternal mortality rates.
Does the law of unintended consequences apply here ?
Hmmmm ... Does the "Pro-life Party" really care about life ?
Losing mothers in childbirth should not happening at this rate in this country.
Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly in 2023 introduced quite a few restrictive abortion laws (Democrats defeated those bills). We need to stop these Republican efforts to directly harm women, children, minorities, LGBTQ and many other communities.
We, as Democrats, and those who care about losing mothers in childbirth need to do EVERYTHING we can to make sure we elect Democrats and take over the Virginia General Assembly in November 2023. We need to continue the progress made in the elections in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Kansas and the midterms.
Talk to everyone to get them to vote and contribute to the election effort.
Volunteer - volunteer@staunton-democrats.care
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