Giving birth in the United States can be dangerous. In
fact-- a newly released USA Today investigation found it's
the most dangerous place in the developed world to give birth.
While other developed countries have experienced declines in
maternal deaths over the last 25 years-- the United States has
seen a drastic increase. Though the majority of women give birth
safely-- approximately 700 women across the U.S. die each year as
a result of pregnancy or pregnancy-related complications.
Obstetrician Gynecologists like Dr. Barbara Levy say many of
these deaths are preventable with correct prenatal care
through a specialist. Levy: There are primary care
physicians who have training, most don't. There are a lot
changes that happen to our bodies during pregnancy. It
takesa little bit of special training to understand. Women
typically see their OB-GYN about once a month at the beginning of
pregnancy-- and those visits only get more frequent as the
pregnancy progresses. Levy: You don't wanna scare people with
the bad things that can happen but bad things do happen and we
want to be prepared. But regular visits to a maternal care
physician can be a struggle to women in rural communities. The
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
says one million babies are born to mothers who did not receive
adequate prenatal care every year. In Wisconsin alone-- a
third of women don't have access to a specialist. Baldwin: 26 of
72 countries don't have an OBGYN working in that community. You
have to travel great distances, sometimes people forego care
they need. I can't tell you how many stories i've heard of women
in labor driving an hour and a half to give birth. These are
not good circumstances. (:36) With 2,340,007 women in
Wisconsin and only 556 OBGYNs--Senator Tammy Baldwin
says there isn't enough care to go around. She wants the
National Health Service Corps to specifically target maternity
care resources to lacking communities. Baldwin: This is
right now generalized review which areas are underserved but
it doesn't look at maternity care. To improve outcomes in the
united states we've really got to look at the whole both
prenatal and postnatal care and delivery. Her bill--
co-sponsored by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska-- would direct the NHSC to do just that. Both the
Senators and Dr. Levy agree negative outcomes could be
prevented with more access. Baldwin: All of those things--
there can be an intervention that reduces the chance or
mortality or underweight birth. Dr. Levy says there needs to be
a system to put doctors in these underserved communities while
also supporting their careers. Levy: If there's a place where
there's not a lot of pregnant women, trying to maintain a
practice is challenging. Many of them have closed hospitals that
do OB care bc maternity care doesn't pay well for the
hospital and keeping a workforce of nurses who are trained to
manage labor is really tough. How do they keep up their skills
if their volume is really low? They need to be in a place where
they know how to respond quickly in an emergency and if they're
only doing one delivery a day they may never see that
emergency for a year. We need them to be practiced. Both Dr.
Levy and Senator Baldwin say they're disappointed at the
disparity between the United States and other countries.
Levy:if you live at home in a system like great britain theres
a set of guidelines you get transferred to the hospital
that's great. If you're in rural US and it would take you 2 hours
to get to the hospital that could cost a mother her life a
baby a life or lifelong disability. Baldwin: you compare
our rates to other industrialized countries where
they guarantee everyone healthcare-- it's kind of
shocking to see how far behind we are in many of those cases.
With the Centers for Disease Control estimating 60 percent of
pregnancy related deaths each year are preventable-- the
Senators are eager to make progress in protecting mothers
-- and they say this bill is a good start. Tag: The bill has
not yet been passed out of committee in the Senate. The
House passed a companion bill in January 2017.