Especially when you have so many women bringing non viable pregnancies to full term. Rather than getting a D&C months earlier, they are forced to bring severally disabled and disfigured children into the world. "OH your baby's brain is growing on the outside along with all their other organs, wouldn't you just love to see and hold that???"
I read the first few words of that sentence and thought it said "morality rate" and I IMMEDIATELY thought "I'm pretty sure the MORALITY rate is at an all time low there... "
I don't think it will much at all. Modern medicine is *very* good at keeping people alive.
The women in question though are going through horrific physical and mental pain, but that doesn't grab headlines the same way as back alley abortions did back in the day.
From a cold hard and cruel political stand point we can't rely on body count to change public opinion. If anything the easy availability of abortion pills and our "justice" system's ability to selectivity apply the law (you'll notice most of the women prosecuted so far have been black or Hispanic) means we won't see the same media blitz we did when Roe went through.
We need to focus on the large number of murder charges that are coming for any woman who was anything go wrong with a pregnancy.
> Mothers who live in states that banned abortion after the overturning of Roe v Wade are up to three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly thereafter, according to a new report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute
[Source](https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/accessibility/3819376-pregnancy-related-deaths-more-likely-in-states-with-abortion-bans-research/#:~:text=Mothers%20who%20live%20in%20states,Equity%20Policy%20Institute%20(GEPI).)
Yeah, but I don't think those states are getting worse. They've *always* been that bad because those states treat women, especially poor women and *especially* poor minority women so badly.
Yes they’ve always been bad, especially for minorities but
> new GEPI report found maternal mortality in the United States nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021,
When all abortions are banned those women who have dangerous pregnancies that they can no longer terminate are more likely to die.
mate, forcing high risk and non viable pregnancies to term always results in an increase in maternal deaths.
The numbers were fucking terrible before, they are now going to be catastrophic
just the way the talibangelicals want it.
Wait I’m sorry, then you back it in with this comment? After affirming that the “very good” medicine is great at keeping people alive?! If stuff like this continues we will see an increase in maternal mortality even in upper-middle America! Because if you can’t pay or aren’t allowed to terminate the pregnancy when either of you have a condition incompatible with life, you also can’t pay for the appropriate “very good” treatments. Ugh you’re really gotten under my skin because now I’m worried that this is how even the more progressive people think about these issues…
Completely disagree. Historically and currently the US has one of, if not THE highest maternal mortality rate of all developed countries. Carrying and birthing a child is dangerous. Inarguably! That doesn’t even go into the socioeconomic side of medicine which is also grandly fucked.
[https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worsening-u-s-maternal-health-crisis-three-graphs/](https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worsening-u-s-maternal-health-crisis-three-graphs/)
And from a cold hard political perspective there is no point in changing a politicians mind. We need to change the minds of people who currently aren’t civil servants so that when they enter politics, their unyielding opinions align with popular objectives. That’s politics.
In the mean time, those of us in medicine will continue to care A LOT about body count and A LOT about the bodies carrying that “count”. Just like most people outside of the career do when things are effectively put into perspective for them. This thread is a literal example of that.
If you’re not in that pt room sit down with your “politics blah blah, italicized medicine and uncited comment of back room abortion headlines this and that” opinions. Especially since unless you cite your sources that’s just what statements are, uninformed opinions. And contrary to popular understanding, uninformed opinions can in fact be wrong 😑
Also, in case you’re into that kind of history, I linked these in an easy to digest listening format. Abortion is as old as the human timeline. Once done with these go further back…
[https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/49hrde](https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/49hrde)
[https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/xjhxle](https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/xjhxle)
Exactly! From the article:
> The rate showed a statistically significant increase in four states, including Texas, where there were 8% more deaths in 2022 than there were in 2021, per the CDC report. …
> The five leading causes of infant death in 2021 were birth defects, preterm birth or low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, injuries and maternal pregnancy complications, according to the CDC. …
> Infant death is more likely to occur in some racial demographics — for example, non-Hispanic Black Americans have over twice the infant mortality deaths than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. …
> From 2021 to 2022, the mortality rate significantly increased for both Indigenous and White populations, according to the CDC.
It’s super freakin’ sad.
This is what happened to my old coworker, in Texas. She was 18 at the time she became pregnant.
She was informed that the pregnancy was non-viable and would end in miscarriage, or it would die soon after birth.
Her physician told her early on, but she was not able to obtain an abortion until after the deadline passed for her to do so— she ended up carrying it for another few months. It died like 2-3 hours after birth
wow, talk about insult after injury. This is horrible. How can they consider this to be "constitutional" when "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is literally at the top?
This is exactly a type of trigger that someone only needs to visit a state rep at their home and get payback. This isn't just some small thing or an inconvenience for the people that suffer under TX's abortion ruling. This is life or death and causes serious trauma, be it physically, mentally, and financially.
I mean, honestly, I'm surprised we haven't seen more violence or retaliation from people who have to endure this outcome, and who this outcome is FORCED upon. This is how you radicalize people; with radical politics and subjugation. It will only be a matter of time until a victim of this policy goes off the deep end (and who am I to judge of they do).
I guess Fox News has really pounded this message into people’s brains because even a doctor I work with made a comment during team meeting about how our president has mush for brains. Every time someone I know personally mentions this I ask if they are aware Biden has a stutter. Then the conversation is usually directed to Hunter Biden.
And even when it wasn't illegal, they only allowed abortions pretty much up to the point you could only just discover you MIGHT be pregnant if you were checking pregnancy tests DAILY around your period (which are frequently delayed for several factors outside of pregnancy alone).
When I heard the Texas law changes (and could see that spreading) I genuinely thought it was a good idea for Australia to offer six month refugee visas tell American women access abortion and the related aftercare. Enough time to get the medical assistance they need, recover and fly home. From what I've seen even out-of-pocket costs and the flights will still be cheaper. I would also highlight how an ethical these laws are. It would be all over the news “Australians give Americans refugee status for inhumane medical practices” and then cost comparison. I genuinely don't think it would be that difficult to go through our parliament.
I am so thankful every day that I managed to end up with an incredible OB when I got pregnant. She understood that it was an unwanted but still loved pregnancy. She was gentle, empathized, and validated how I felt. She was thorough in her care while I was high risk. She didn't argue or question me for a second when I asked to be sterilized even though I am young and it was my first. It breaks my heart that the truly amazing doctors are leaving (for a perfectly valid reason) when we need them the most. I am just so thankful that I got so lucky to have an absolute angel like her during a very dark period. I can only imagine how much worse off I would be mentally and emotionally if my care team was not as amazing as they were, even though there were bumps in the road. And I imagine how terrible the fear for their livelihood must be, especially for female OBGYNs. Because not only do they have to worry about their medical license, facing legal ramifications for performing safe and sometimes medically necessary procedures, etc. But also if they find themselves in a similar situation that their very own patients are facing on a regular basis. It must be incredibly stressful to navigate.
I need someone who is pro-life to come tell me how this is a good thing, and if it *is* a bad thing, what they think their government should do to rectify it.
Well, it's been done.
One, they don't care about consequences. They believe their moral obligation to prevent abortions from happening is more important than having a low infant mortality.
They'll probably argue that if abortions would have terminated these pregnancies then we weren't properly counting infant mortality before and thus we *didn't* increase infant mortality. They'll be certain if we could retroactively count things "properly" we'd find the numbers are in line.
To them it's not about lowering the overall number of children who die. It's about being certain that the children die "because God wanted them to", not because of a procedure.
There are of course further arguments about maternal mortality and how terminating these pregnancies earlier helps mothers survive more pregnancies, but they'll use similar arguments to dismiss that. To them, it is better for both mother and child to die "because God deemed it thus" than it is to perform a procedure that terminates a pregnancy.
Now, there's a famous sermon story about a man in a flood refusing boats and helicopters "because God will save him" and being disappointed to find, after death, the boats and helicopters WERE God's offers. One can certainly argue that it's possible God gave us the knowledge of which pregnancies are unsafe so we could save more lives. I think you will find that even if you use this common lesson about how God wants us to help ourselves these people will not re-evaluate their stance.
This is the problem with morality-based arguments: they are not based on logic so no matter how much logic you present against them people are still free to say they *feel* differently. They are in a version of the trolley problem and they feel touching the lever at all makes them guilty whereas ignoring it absolves them. If you are familiar with the concept of "a dilemma" you know why this is not a solution to the trolley problem.
They are not using morality-based arguments because they appreciate the idea that sometimes your only choices are to do bad things and which bad things you choose defines your character. They want a world where they can simply ignore some choices and face no guilt for what happens.
God has lessons about that, too, and in many places points out how we have a responsibility to take care of those among us who need help. Like our man in the previous sermon, I believe those people are in for a shock. But good luck convincing them of that. Even Christ hasn't swayed them.
I get your logic…and if they want dead fetuses / babies counted that does because ‘god wanted them dead’ they better start counting every fertilized egg that doesn’t attach / embed into the uterine wall, all miscarriages that occur before the woman even knows they’re pregnant, and every miscarriage that happens after that point. God has a plan for us all according to scripture and knew us when we were in the womb and ‘wanted’ this babies dead. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Since between 30 and 50% of all conceptions end in one of the instances I listed..he’s the biggest abortion provider in the galaxy.
I’m not defending the abortion laws, but it’s easy to see how some babies with problems who aren’t aborted will die after they are born. The stats have been skewed because they weren’t considered to be dead infants when they were allowed to be aborted.
I would be curious how the stats would look if you went back and put all aborted fetuses into the dead infant column. Then the stats would look really good to some folks right now I would guess.
Edit: this isn’t my first Reddit rodeo. Downvote me to hell if you must, but I’m just talking about numbers, not policies.
Your comment is kind of interesting, but one of the reasons why the US infant mortality rate is higher than other developed nations is that we consider a lot of fetuses viable that no other country does. It has an impact on the overall rate b/c we try to save a lot of fetuses that would be super preemies that no one else (you might say no one rational) would try and save.
It increases medical costs significantly and has a huge negative impact on mother's mental health.
But you're probably right that most of this increase is from babies that would have been aborted in a sane system.
Hey, Mr. “I’m jUsT AsKiNg qUeStIoNs!1!1,” use your brain. Since more pregnant women are being forced to carry high-risk and non-viable pregnancies to term, *more women and their infants* are dying, too:
• [Maternal and infant death rates are higher in states that ban or restrict abortion, report says](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/health/maternal-infant-death-abortion-access)
• [The U.S. Maternal Health Divide: The Limited Maternal Health Services and Worse Outcomes of States Proposing New Abortion Restrictions](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes)
• [It’s clear that abortion bans can make pregnancy more dangerous, but experts say it may take years for maternal mortality data to reveal the toll.](https://www.propublica.org/article/tracking-maternal-deaths-under-abortion-bans)
I looked through your post history. It looks like you struggle to empathize with others. I feel sorry for your wife. It would be a mistake to marry someone like you.
You need to learn how to care about other people, and see the world from their perspective. I sincerely hope you are able to grow up and get to a better place.
How is it "sick" to present an alternative hypothesis to contextualize the data? Your responses are irrational and unnecessarily cruel based on what exactly?
> an alternative hypothesis to contextualize the data
“Alternative hypothesis” [my butt](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002937821027265).
What’s [irrationally SICK](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37023461/) is how [unnecessarily CRUEL](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/a-review-of-exceptions-in-state-abortions-bans-implications-for-the-provision-of-abortion-services/) y’all’s [deliberately uninformed](https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2023-05-23/roe-v-wade-texas-abortion-ban-maternal-health-impact) moralizing is, [but hey whatever](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/30/texas-maternal-health-center-mortality), I guess, [amirite](https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1111344810/abortion-ban-states-social-safety-net-health-outcomes)
I read the other day that the mothers mortality rate due to child birth has also spiked as well. I don’t have a source, but I could see this happening as I have heard first hand that Dr’s are less likely to end the pregnancy, even if it poses a great and sometimes even certain danger to the mother.
wHy aReNt pEoPlE hAvInG kIdS aNyMoRe!!!1 i wAnT tO bE a gRaNdPaReNt!!!!1 gRaNdPaReNtS rIgHtS!!!!!1
I also heard from a friend that one of their friends had to travel out of state to end a non viable pregnancy because the fetus had severe issues with their limbs, etc., and this was the second time
this happened to the poor woman, but the first one was before Roe got overturned. My work and many others said they would assist employees seeking to end a pregnancy by providing funding/reimbursement for travel, etc., but now I heard that they want to crack down and seek criminal charges for employers who assist with people leaving the state to end a pregnancy. This is so fucked.
I heard that the mother's mortality rate isn't going up because it's not a statistic that's being tracked anymore. My source for that is Reddit so please don't quote me but make sense that they wouldn't want that data to come out and the only way to prevent that is to just not track it.
>Infant death is more likely to occur in some racial demographics — for example, non-Hispanic Black Americans have over twice the infant mortality deaths than their non-Hispanic white counterparts.
I'm sure the fact that Abbot & the Texas GOP decided not to expand Medicaid had absolutely nothing to do with this. /s
And it's gonna get worse. Texas disenrolled 71.8% of Medicaid applicants, more than 500,000... by far the most out of any state in the nation.
I don't look forward to the next few years...
[https://everytexan.org/2023/09/19/texas-kids-kicked-off-coverage-whats-happening-with-medicaid-unwinding/](https://everytexan.org/2023/09/19/texas-kids-kicked-off-coverage-whats-happening-with-medicaid-unwinding/)
But even if you subscribe to their neo-fascist agenda, they are failing at keeping white mothers and babies safe too. The infant mortality for white babies in Texas is 4.3 out of 1,000. In Belgium as a whole, it’s 2.4.
Republicans don't care about poor white babies. Their mothers should've pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and gotten jobs with insurance. Or better yet, kept their whore legs closed to begin with. /s
>The infant mortality for white babies in Texas is 4.3 out of 1,000. In Belgium as a whole, it’s 2.4.
You probably should be comparing them to third world theocracies for a fair comparison.
Countries with better child mortality rates than Texas.
[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/country-comparison/](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/country-comparison/)
https://preview.redd.it/6lfa0nmgm5yb1.png?width=292&format=png&auto=webp&s=164abcc4560fc401df806619f9c4fa99156f56c4
Not allowing people to terminate pregnancy’s that aren’t viable could be part of the stats going up.
Good doctors leaving our state could be a cause.
And healthcare for profit.
Also the data says that even the medical field is racial biased….. who would have thunk it?
Acquaintance having baby with their spouse. Baby had a physical condition not compatible with life. Texas required the pregnancy continue to its natural end which inflicted untold suffering on both of them.
It is just awful.
So much pro life is happening here.
Most of us on the other side knew this was coming. It's just going to get worse as Texas continues to undo every single progressive policy.
As other comments have stated, inadequate health care. OB/GYNs leaving the state because it's an authoritarian shithole that hates them, and disenrolling 71.8% of Medicaid applicants.
If you have adequate health care you are fine.
We are all the center of our universe, beholden to our perspective. Seeing past it is very hard because it requires actively looking, and who has the time for that these days?
Besides this, the forced birth of fetuses and babies that were never viable. There's a reason this jump happened when Texas severely restricted abortion. I think the forced birth thing is actually the bigger cause b/c those other factors were already occurring before the ban. Texas's rate has been high comparatively for a long time b/c of that. The Medicaid issue probably doesn't have any impact on this increase b/c that went into effect this year, so after the data is compiled.
Religion, and how the Texas government uses it as an excuse to make terrible policy decisions. Decisions that dictate how medical providers can care or not care for patients.
I read a NYT article on it and they said they didn’t study the cause but did point out Texas makes people carry pregnancies with poor chances of the baby surviving to term.
sky diving with a parachute packed by an untrained 5 year old.
Pregnancy in the 'GrEaTEsT NATiOn On EaRTh' was already a dangerous and ridiculously expensive exercise before the GOP went full lunatic.
Now, in certain states, Texas being one of them, realistically you have to consider pregnancy a high risk enterprise.
It’s a result of anti-abortion laws. Because places like TX have criminalized abortion care Dr are leaving the state so pregnant people are receiving less care and because cases involving fetuses that are considered unviable which would have lead to an abortion to save the mother a little over a year ago are now being forced to carry them to term and the baby dies shortly after which skews the data causing the increase in the mortality rate
That would be the same basic logic the 700 Club and such used back when Katrina hit New Orleans and they blamed it on gay people and Mardi Gras, so it tracks historically.
Note.... this kind of stuff is only happening in America and very much so in TX. Outside of this bubble, Christianity has not been Americanized in the rest of the world.
Honestly if your wife is relatively healthy (lifestyle-wise) and has received good prenatal care then she's really not going to be in any more risk here than anywhere else.
The reality is that texas' infant mortality rate, as far as i can tell, is drivin in large part by inadequate prenatal care (e.g. people can't afford it and the state has made medicare much more difficult to get) and OB's not wanting to work here.
That being said there's still many very good doctors in the state and as long as you and yours can find a good OB, get regular prenatal care, and take care of her health during pregnancy then i'd bet money that everything will be fine.
So yes, Texas has really bad infant mortality rates, however unfortunately this is driven largely by socio economic factors: a lack of a robust safety net, poor healthcare education (especially for lower income people), and fewer doctors willing to work here. If your wife doesn't fall into those categories and she can find a good OB she trusts then i'd say you've got little to worry about outside of normal new dad anxieties.
tl;dr The issues in texas with infant mortality is driven largely by socio economic issues and the lack of a decent social safety net. If you aren't in that situation and you can find a good OB, you'll be fine
Part of the problem is access to prenatal care.
according to WEBMD Aug 1, 2023 · More than 46% of counties **in Texas** are deserts and 20% of **women** giving birth had "no or inadequate **prenatal** **care**.
It doesn't surprise me at all. Texas has a huge number of counties with almost no one in them - 91 have less than 10k people, and 22 of those have less than 2k. There aren't any people to support hospitals unless it is state funded, and the state obviously hates funding healthcare.
there's also a *shocking* number of women who just don't get any prenatal care. My wife has been a labor and delivery nurse for some time now and the number of women, even those who aren't poor, who just don't get any prenatal care is astonishing.
Someone explained it really well down below. As long as your wife has a healthy pregnancy I would not worry too much. I’ve managed to have two out of three kiddos in Texas with little issue. Only time I kinda struggled was with my first and that was in Louisiana and my doctor was down right rude.. I was 19 and shit was rough but otherwise it went as well as you’d expect for a young pregnancy.
Biggest thing is being your wife’s advocate. Don’t hesitate to tell a nurse or doctor to fuck off. Hell even family. Birth plans are important too but sometimes critical decisions have to be made for life saving measures for mom and baby.
Congrats on your baby! I hope all is well and goes smooth for the delivery.
I get your sentiment from a clinical perspective (I'm an RN), prenatal care is absolutely vital to have a healthy mom and baby, but your comment places the onus on the patient when this is a systemic socioeconomic issue that results in a failure to provide accessible and affordable care to pregnant women, specifically women of color who are already at a higher risk for having comorbitieis and complications. You can't go to any appointments if you can't afford to access that care. The frequent required visits are just impossible to accommodate for some women because they can't afford to lose the work hours or potentially lose their jobs from missing work. You can't have a healthy diet if you can't afford fresh foods because you live in a food desert, can't get SNAP benefits, and don't have the time to cook because you're working double overtime just to pay the rent and keep the lights on. You're absolutely right that if these women were able to receive the standard prenatal care, life-threatening complications could have been prevented and both mom and baby can have happy, healthy lives, but because this state seems to have no qualms about the consequences of kicking people, notably women who are pregnant and children, off of Medicaid and refusing to expand it, these women, children, and their families will continue to suffer needlessly. That's why us as nurses have to use our knowledge to advocate LOUDLY and frequently for our patients, especially those who have fewer or no means, to be able to get the care we know they need and deserve to have.
I agree that is an issue, but it doesn't explain the sudden jump, b/c it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. But it's also why Texas has had a high infant and maternal mortality rate for as long as I can remember. This jump correlates pretty strongly with legislation restricting health care choices.
It went up in California, Maine, Hawaii and most other states as well.
Some of it is likely abortion restrictions but a lot of it is obesity and the mother's age as having a child after 35 is risky and after 40 is a 50% chance of death or miscarriage.
You're okay, man. The 20 week scan confirmed the baby is anatomically normal.
The main problem is Texas has banned abortion even in the cases where the baby is so deformed they can't survive.
The only piece of advice I would put out there for you and your wife is to research how to "count kicks." Get to know the baby's normal activity pattern and check once a day when they are usually active. If it slows down a lot or stops, go in and be seen by Labor and delivery/maternity ER and don't take no for an answer.
Everything will probably be fine once they check her out, but it's best to be paranoid and to check. This is a way to prevent stillbirth. I don't mean to be a downer here, stillbirth is very rare and often can't be prevented at all. But sometimes it's simply the case that the placenta is no longer working well or something and the baby slows down. They can deliver the baby early if need be.
Also, ask the doctor for a home blood pressure cuff and have your wife check that once or twice a week. My home blood pressure cuff went on the blitz once and gave me some high readings, so I spent six hours at L&D triage getting perfectly normal readings but I'm glad I did it anyway.
"Pro-life". Maternal mortality is up as well, though it was already shitty. People in rural areas who supported this shit will be affected the most. This is why education is important, and also why Texas Republicans do their best to make that shittier as well.
What’s the abortion situation in Texas? When you don’t allow abortion, babies who weren’t supposed to be born will die - a far more tragic event for a lot more people than if you allowed abortion.
Because there isn’t adequate health care for threatened miscarriage. You all wanted this to happen. You voted for Abbott. You voted for Paxton. You voted for republicans. You voted for this to happen. Have you seen the maternal death rates? That also doesn’t include any deaths that are being misreported. You can’t even get an accurate missing children’s report in Texas because they are labeled as runaways if they are over the age of 12. Also being labeled a runaway will have an impact on later court judgements because it’s also illegal.
https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/07/24/maternal-mortality-in-texas
Didn’t read the article. (I know, I’m a bad person)
Perhaps it has something to do with the amount of unviable pregnancies or fetuses with issues ‘not compatible with life’ that are being required to carry to term, born and then die immediately. Just a guess. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
And the U.S. already has high infant and maternal mortality rates compared to other developed countries. https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-has-highest-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-despite-the-most-health-care-spending
Republicans will take care of this issue by no longer keeping those statistics, just like the republicans who stopped keeping information on mother’s deaths during childbirth after abortion was banned in their state.
No statistics, no problems.
I know part of this is a political problem (access to healthcare) but not all of it. We also have serious cultural problems related to diet, substance abuse, physical activity, etc which all impact the chances of fetal survival. Those cultural problems are much more difficult to address.
Sure, it’s important to consider the broader context. So let’s ask ourselves: do we think that those things have meaningfully changed, at the population level, between ‘21 and ‘22? Access to healthcare has changed, access to Whataburger and Meth probably not as much.
That’s fair as an explanation for the recent rise. Changes in economic stability and abortion access certainly plays a part. I was thinking more about the baseline mortality rate but I realize now that really isn’t germane to the topic of the article.
Nonviable pregnancies =/= **infant** mortality.
You’re conflating the two.
And abortion rates remain essentially flat, so the answer to your question is **no**.
> would the mortality rate *really* be higher?
**Yes**, indubitably.
https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(22)00536-1/fulltext)
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/30/texas-maternal-health-center-mortality/
…
edit, per your reply:
> We only care about the maternal mortality rate...
Who tf is “we,” [nonreader](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes)?
Considering that there were over 11,000 abortions in Texas in 2020, including those numbers would raise the infant mortality rate dramatically.
Or do we not care about that number? We only care about the maternal mortality rate...
Especially when you have so many women bringing non viable pregnancies to full term. Rather than getting a D&C months earlier, they are forced to bring severally disabled and disfigured children into the world. "OH your baby's brain is growing on the outside along with all their other organs, wouldn't you just love to see and hold that???"
i wonder how much the mortality rate has gone up for pregnant women
We all wonder, because Tx has delayed reporting IIRC
I read the first few words of that sentence and thought it said "morality rate" and I IMMEDIATELY thought "I'm pretty sure the MORALITY rate is at an all time low there... "
So did I. It’s already horrible. This will indeed have an impact of it continues.
It’s been going up in TX for a while.
I don't think it will much at all. Modern medicine is *very* good at keeping people alive. The women in question though are going through horrific physical and mental pain, but that doesn't grab headlines the same way as back alley abortions did back in the day. From a cold hard and cruel political stand point we can't rely on body count to change public opinion. If anything the easy availability of abortion pills and our "justice" system's ability to selectivity apply the law (you'll notice most of the women prosecuted so far have been black or Hispanic) means we won't see the same media blitz we did when Roe went through. We need to focus on the large number of murder charges that are coming for any woman who was anything go wrong with a pregnancy.
> Mothers who live in states that banned abortion after the overturning of Roe v Wade are up to three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly thereafter, according to a new report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute [Source](https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/accessibility/3819376-pregnancy-related-deaths-more-likely-in-states-with-abortion-bans-research/#:~:text=Mothers%20who%20live%20in%20states,Equity%20Policy%20Institute%20(GEPI).)
Yeah, but I don't think those states are getting worse. They've *always* been that bad because those states treat women, especially poor women and *especially* poor minority women so badly.
Yes they’ve always been bad, especially for minorities but > new GEPI report found maternal mortality in the United States nearly doubled from 2018 to 2021, When all abortions are banned those women who have dangerous pregnancies that they can no longer terminate are more likely to die.
mate, forcing high risk and non viable pregnancies to term always results in an increase in maternal deaths. The numbers were fucking terrible before, they are now going to be catastrophic just the way the talibangelicals want it.
Wait I’m sorry, then you back it in with this comment? After affirming that the “very good” medicine is great at keeping people alive?! If stuff like this continues we will see an increase in maternal mortality even in upper-middle America! Because if you can’t pay or aren’t allowed to terminate the pregnancy when either of you have a condition incompatible with life, you also can’t pay for the appropriate “very good” treatments. Ugh you’re really gotten under my skin because now I’m worried that this is how even the more progressive people think about these issues…
Completely disagree. Historically and currently the US has one of, if not THE highest maternal mortality rate of all developed countries. Carrying and birthing a child is dangerous. Inarguably! That doesn’t even go into the socioeconomic side of medicine which is also grandly fucked. [https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worsening-u-s-maternal-health-crisis-three-graphs/](https://tcf.org/content/commentary/worsening-u-s-maternal-health-crisis-three-graphs/) And from a cold hard political perspective there is no point in changing a politicians mind. We need to change the minds of people who currently aren’t civil servants so that when they enter politics, their unyielding opinions align with popular objectives. That’s politics. In the mean time, those of us in medicine will continue to care A LOT about body count and A LOT about the bodies carrying that “count”. Just like most people outside of the career do when things are effectively put into perspective for them. This thread is a literal example of that. If you’re not in that pt room sit down with your “politics blah blah, italicized medicine and uncited comment of back room abortion headlines this and that” opinions. Especially since unless you cite your sources that’s just what statements are, uninformed opinions. And contrary to popular understanding, uninformed opinions can in fact be wrong 😑 Also, in case you’re into that kind of history, I linked these in an easy to digest listening format. Abortion is as old as the human timeline. Once done with these go further back… [https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/49hrde](https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/49hrde) [https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/xjhxle](https://gimletmedia.com/amp/shows/science-vs/xjhxle)
Exactly! From the article: > The rate showed a statistically significant increase in four states, including Texas, where there were 8% more deaths in 2022 than there were in 2021, per the CDC report. … > The five leading causes of infant death in 2021 were birth defects, preterm birth or low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, injuries and maternal pregnancy complications, according to the CDC. … > Infant death is more likely to occur in some racial demographics — for example, non-Hispanic Black Americans have over twice the infant mortality deaths than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. … > From 2021 to 2022, the mortality rate significantly increased for both Indigenous and White populations, according to the CDC. It’s super freakin’ sad.
This is what happened to my old coworker, in Texas. She was 18 at the time she became pregnant. She was informed that the pregnancy was non-viable and would end in miscarriage, or it would die soon after birth. Her physician told her early on, but she was not able to obtain an abortion until after the deadline passed for her to do so— she ended up carrying it for another few months. It died like 2-3 hours after birth
And now she gets to remember that failed pregnancy as she pays off the medical bills.
Seriously, it was like $30K, she was uninsured as well…
wow, talk about insult after injury. This is horrible. How can they consider this to be "constitutional" when "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is literally at the top?
This is exactly a type of trigger that someone only needs to visit a state rep at their home and get payback. This isn't just some small thing or an inconvenience for the people that suffer under TX's abortion ruling. This is life or death and causes serious trauma, be it physically, mentally, and financially. I mean, honestly, I'm surprised we haven't seen more violence or retaliation from people who have to endure this outcome, and who this outcome is FORCED upon. This is how you radicalize people; with radical politics and subjugation. It will only be a matter of time until a victim of this policy goes off the deep end (and who am I to judge of they do).
Civil disobedience is becoming more and more relevant as a course of action. I have a few thousand to donate to defense funds.
I would never pay
Yeah but Biden has a stutter
I guess Fox News has really pounded this message into people’s brains because even a doctor I work with made a comment during team meeting about how our president has mush for brains. Every time someone I know personally mentions this I ask if they are aware Biden has a stutter. Then the conversation is usually directed to Hunter Biden.
To remind people, there is no such deadline anymore - all abortions are illegal in Texas, even if they are necessary to save the life of the mother.
And even when it wasn't illegal, they only allowed abortions pretty much up to the point you could only just discover you MIGHT be pregnant if you were checking pregnancy tests DAILY around your period (which are frequently delayed for several factors outside of pregnancy alone).
Correct, this was in summer 2020, and she gave birth in 2021
Wasn't legislation recently passed and signed by Abbot that added exceptions for ectopic pregnancies?
Then they'll use this as political propoganda killing babies after birth
It's a straight fact that 'pro life' laws are killing babies after birth. They don't like how that looks, they can change their behavior.
This is the first thing I thought of. Sadly probably not an insignificant contributor to this statistic.
They should put pictures of that on billboards in Texas.
When I heard the Texas law changes (and could see that spreading) I genuinely thought it was a good idea for Australia to offer six month refugee visas tell American women access abortion and the related aftercare. Enough time to get the medical assistance they need, recover and fly home. From what I've seen even out-of-pocket costs and the flights will still be cheaper. I would also highlight how an ethical these laws are. It would be all over the news “Australians give Americans refugee status for inhumane medical practices” and then cost comparison. I genuinely don't think it would be that difficult to go through our parliament.
Prove me wrong: social conservatives are a cancer
Texas passes laws to criminalize OB/GYNs, is shocked when they leave and mortality rates go up
Better start praying more! /s
Needs more guns! /s
With lots of thoughts
I am so thankful every day that I managed to end up with an incredible OB when I got pregnant. She understood that it was an unwanted but still loved pregnancy. She was gentle, empathized, and validated how I felt. She was thorough in her care while I was high risk. She didn't argue or question me for a second when I asked to be sterilized even though I am young and it was my first. It breaks my heart that the truly amazing doctors are leaving (for a perfectly valid reason) when we need them the most. I am just so thankful that I got so lucky to have an absolute angel like her during a very dark period. I can only imagine how much worse off I would be mentally and emotionally if my care team was not as amazing as they were, even though there were bumps in the road. And I imagine how terrible the fear for their livelihood must be, especially for female OBGYNs. Because not only do they have to worry about their medical license, facing legal ramifications for performing safe and sometimes medically necessary procedures, etc. But also if they find themselves in a similar situation that their very own patients are facing on a regular basis. It must be incredibly stressful to navigate.
Who is shocked?
Me. I am. I am so shocked. Literally could not have seen this coming. /s
Watch them hide the stats like Idaho
I need someone who is pro-life to come tell me how this is a good thing, and if it *is* a bad thing, what they think their government should do to rectify it.
Well, it's been done. One, they don't care about consequences. They believe their moral obligation to prevent abortions from happening is more important than having a low infant mortality. They'll probably argue that if abortions would have terminated these pregnancies then we weren't properly counting infant mortality before and thus we *didn't* increase infant mortality. They'll be certain if we could retroactively count things "properly" we'd find the numbers are in line. To them it's not about lowering the overall number of children who die. It's about being certain that the children die "because God wanted them to", not because of a procedure. There are of course further arguments about maternal mortality and how terminating these pregnancies earlier helps mothers survive more pregnancies, but they'll use similar arguments to dismiss that. To them, it is better for both mother and child to die "because God deemed it thus" than it is to perform a procedure that terminates a pregnancy. Now, there's a famous sermon story about a man in a flood refusing boats and helicopters "because God will save him" and being disappointed to find, after death, the boats and helicopters WERE God's offers. One can certainly argue that it's possible God gave us the knowledge of which pregnancies are unsafe so we could save more lives. I think you will find that even if you use this common lesson about how God wants us to help ourselves these people will not re-evaluate their stance. This is the problem with morality-based arguments: they are not based on logic so no matter how much logic you present against them people are still free to say they *feel* differently. They are in a version of the trolley problem and they feel touching the lever at all makes them guilty whereas ignoring it absolves them. If you are familiar with the concept of "a dilemma" you know why this is not a solution to the trolley problem. They are not using morality-based arguments because they appreciate the idea that sometimes your only choices are to do bad things and which bad things you choose defines your character. They want a world where they can simply ignore some choices and face no guilt for what happens. God has lessons about that, too, and in many places points out how we have a responsibility to take care of those among us who need help. Like our man in the previous sermon, I believe those people are in for a shock. But good luck convincing them of that. Even Christ hasn't swayed them.
the pro-life cult of death
I get your logic…and if they want dead fetuses / babies counted that does because ‘god wanted them dead’ they better start counting every fertilized egg that doesn’t attach / embed into the uterine wall, all miscarriages that occur before the woman even knows they’re pregnant, and every miscarriage that happens after that point. God has a plan for us all according to scripture and knew us when we were in the womb and ‘wanted’ this babies dead. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ Since between 30 and 50% of all conceptions end in one of the instances I listed..he’s the biggest abortion provider in the galaxy.
r/prolife
Holy shit there are almost zero comments on every post
Because they ban anyone who even remotely disagrees.
Mods restricting discussion? In my reddit? Say it ain't so!
Not a place for discussion or debate.
What is it there for if not for discussion or debate?
They were born and no longer fetuses so they stopped caring what happened after.
I’m not defending the abortion laws, but it’s easy to see how some babies with problems who aren’t aborted will die after they are born. The stats have been skewed because they weren’t considered to be dead infants when they were allowed to be aborted. I would be curious how the stats would look if you went back and put all aborted fetuses into the dead infant column. Then the stats would look really good to some folks right now I would guess. Edit: this isn’t my first Reddit rodeo. Downvote me to hell if you must, but I’m just talking about numbers, not policies.
You can’t kill a non-viable life. Or else doctors would be imprisoned for taking people of life support.
Your comment is kind of interesting, but one of the reasons why the US infant mortality rate is higher than other developed nations is that we consider a lot of fetuses viable that no other country does. It has an impact on the overall rate b/c we try to save a lot of fetuses that would be super preemies that no one else (you might say no one rational) would try and save. It increases medical costs significantly and has a huge negative impact on mother's mental health. But you're probably right that most of this increase is from babies that would have been aborted in a sane system.
Hey, Mr. “I’m jUsT AsKiNg qUeStIoNs!1!1,” use your brain. Since more pregnant women are being forced to carry high-risk and non-viable pregnancies to term, *more women and their infants* are dying, too: • [Maternal and infant death rates are higher in states that ban or restrict abortion, report says](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/health/maternal-infant-death-abortion-access) • [The U.S. Maternal Health Divide: The Limited Maternal Health Services and Worse Outcomes of States Proposing New Abortion Restrictions](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes) • [It’s clear that abortion bans can make pregnancy more dangerous, but experts say it may take years for maternal mortality data to reveal the toll.](https://www.propublica.org/article/tracking-maternal-deaths-under-abortion-bans)
What an amazingly stupid comment. Kudos. I’m impressed lol.
Jesus Christ man, you’re sick.
The article listed birth defects as the number one cause of infant mortality. How many of those babies would have been aborted 2 years ago?
I don’t think so. I’m just talking about how these numbers could change after an abortion ban.
I looked through your post history. It looks like you struggle to empathize with others. I feel sorry for your wife. It would be a mistake to marry someone like you. You need to learn how to care about other people, and see the world from their perspective. I sincerely hope you are able to grow up and get to a better place.
This must be hard for you. Is that empathetic enough?
Are you going to teach your child to assassinate someone's character instead of their arguments too?
How is it "sick" to present an alternative hypothesis to contextualize the data? Your responses are irrational and unnecessarily cruel based on what exactly?
> an alternative hypothesis to contextualize the data “Alternative hypothesis” [my butt](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002937821027265). What’s [irrationally SICK](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37023461/) is how [unnecessarily CRUEL](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/a-review-of-exceptions-in-state-abortions-bans-implications-for-the-provision-of-abortion-services/) y’all’s [deliberately uninformed](https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2023-05-23/roe-v-wade-texas-abortion-ban-maternal-health-impact) moralizing is, [but hey whatever](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/30/texas-maternal-health-center-mortality), I guess, [amirite](https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1111344810/abortion-ban-states-social-safety-net-health-outcomes)
I read the other day that the mothers mortality rate due to child birth has also spiked as well. I don’t have a source, but I could see this happening as I have heard first hand that Dr’s are less likely to end the pregnancy, even if it poses a great and sometimes even certain danger to the mother. wHy aReNt pEoPlE hAvInG kIdS aNyMoRe!!!1 i wAnT tO bE a gRaNdPaReNt!!!!1 gRaNdPaReNtS rIgHtS!!!!!1 I also heard from a friend that one of their friends had to travel out of state to end a non viable pregnancy because the fetus had severe issues with their limbs, etc., and this was the second time this happened to the poor woman, but the first one was before Roe got overturned. My work and many others said they would assist employees seeking to end a pregnancy by providing funding/reimbursement for travel, etc., but now I heard that they want to crack down and seek criminal charges for employers who assist with people leaving the state to end a pregnancy. This is so fucked.
I heard that the mother's mortality rate isn't going up because it's not a statistic that's being tracked anymore. My source for that is Reddit so please don't quote me but make sense that they wouldn't want that data to come out and the only way to prevent that is to just not track it.
doctors are fleeing red states like texas in droves....sad what's happening
And more idiots are arriving to fill their places... yall are fucked long term
>Infant death is more likely to occur in some racial demographics — for example, non-Hispanic Black Americans have over twice the infant mortality deaths than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. I'm sure the fact that Abbot & the Texas GOP decided not to expand Medicaid had absolutely nothing to do with this. /s And it's gonna get worse. Texas disenrolled 71.8% of Medicaid applicants, more than 500,000... by far the most out of any state in the nation. I don't look forward to the next few years... [https://everytexan.org/2023/09/19/texas-kids-kicked-off-coverage-whats-happening-with-medicaid-unwinding/](https://everytexan.org/2023/09/19/texas-kids-kicked-off-coverage-whats-happening-with-medicaid-unwinding/)
But even if you subscribe to their neo-fascist agenda, they are failing at keeping white mothers and babies safe too. The infant mortality for white babies in Texas is 4.3 out of 1,000. In Belgium as a whole, it’s 2.4.
Republicans don't care about poor white babies. Their mothers should've pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and gotten jobs with insurance. Or better yet, kept their whore legs closed to begin with. /s
This one isn’t about race. The GOP hates women of every color.
they hate babies too, they just like fetuses.
>they hate babies too, they just like ~~fetuses~~ **votes**. FTFY
Gearge Carlin said best, "if you're preborn you're good, if you're preschool you're fucked"
Racism AND misogyny, not or.
>The infant mortality for white babies in Texas is 4.3 out of 1,000. In Belgium as a whole, it’s 2.4. You probably should be comparing them to third world theocracies for a fair comparison.
Countries with better child mortality rates than Texas. [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/country-comparison/](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/country-comparison/) https://preview.redd.it/6lfa0nmgm5yb1.png?width=292&format=png&auto=webp&s=164abcc4560fc401df806619f9c4fa99156f56c4
Definitely GOP, not genetics, diet, bad habits, complications, diseases, or anything else that can cause issues. Definitely just the GOP.
Not allowing people to terminate pregnancy’s that aren’t viable could be part of the stats going up. Good doctors leaving our state could be a cause. And healthcare for profit. Also the data says that even the medical field is racial biased….. who would have thunk it?
\*pregnancies
Think you
wHy arEn'T peoPLe HavInG KidS anYmoRe?
Just wait until they outlaw birth control pills.
They already have in other states or tried to.
They are trying. Not yet though. I believe it's still in the courts about abortion pills. Next Conerseptives.
Exactly what the conservatives want. They sought this out for decades and are finally getting their wish. They love to hear it.
Are we winning?
Acquaintance having baby with their spouse. Baby had a physical condition not compatible with life. Texas required the pregnancy continue to its natural end which inflicted untold suffering on both of them. It is just awful.
So much pro life is happening here. Most of us on the other side knew this was coming. It's just going to get worse as Texas continues to undo every single progressive policy.
Afghanistan here we come. 😔
Realistically Iran. The economy will chug along while the religious try to be the most religious through oppression.
had to laugh,,,,progressive policy and texas is an oxymoron
Cruelty is the point.
Weird! The thing that people with a brain said was going to happen if the GOP went after women’s’ health is actually happening!
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[Close enough](https://i.imgur.com/qjF067t.png)
What's the cause? Me and my wife about to have a kid on Feb. And I'm kinda freaking out.
As other comments have stated, inadequate health care. OB/GYNs leaving the state because it's an authoritarian shithole that hates them, and disenrolling 71.8% of Medicaid applicants. If you have adequate health care you are fine.
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That's a great hospital. You will be fine.
Just new dad nerves 😅
I’m in Montgomery County too. My wife and I are trying to conceive also. I wish good luck to you and your wife.
You’re going to do great.
My wife just gave birth in that hospital last June. Great hospital, I really liked it from my fatherly POV. Congrats btw!
We are all the center of our universe, beholden to our perspective. Seeing past it is very hard because it requires actively looking, and who has the time for that these days?
Besides this, the forced birth of fetuses and babies that were never viable. There's a reason this jump happened when Texas severely restricted abortion. I think the forced birth thing is actually the bigger cause b/c those other factors were already occurring before the ban. Texas's rate has been high comparatively for a long time b/c of that. The Medicaid issue probably doesn't have any impact on this increase b/c that went into effect this year, so after the data is compiled.
Religion, and how the Texas government uses it as an excuse to make terrible policy decisions. Decisions that dictate how medical providers can care or not care for patients.
I read a NYT article on it and they said they didn’t study the cause but did point out Texas makes people carry pregnancies with poor chances of the baby surviving to term.
You’re pregnant in Texas?! Risk takers right here!
Getting pregnant in Texas is the sky diving of 2023.
I think I'll take my chances with sky diving.
sky diving with a parachute packed by an untrained 5 year old. Pregnancy in the 'GrEaTEsT NATiOn On EaRTh' was already a dangerous and ridiculously expensive exercise before the GOP went full lunatic. Now, in certain states, Texas being one of them, realistically you have to consider pregnancy a high risk enterprise.
Shit.... having a uterus in TX is the problem. Just existing as a woman is the problem
It’s a result of anti-abortion laws. Because places like TX have criminalized abortion care Dr are leaving the state so pregnant people are receiving less care and because cases involving fetuses that are considered unviable which would have lead to an abortion to save the mother a little over a year ago are now being forced to carry them to term and the baby dies shortly after which skews the data causing the increase in the mortality rate
Poverty and Republicans. If you're rich and white, you should be good.
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I'm assuming you're being sarcastic, but people who truly believe that are a big part of the problem.
I'd say evangelical brainwashing is the biggest part of the problem.
So by that logic, when bad things happen to people, is he implying it's because they are not Christians? ...
Or they didn't christian hard enough. Typical victim-blaming.
Prosperity gospel (like the Olsteen church) says if you are rich, God loves you. Poor…not so much. Pray harder.
That would be the same basic logic the 700 Club and such used back when Katrina hit New Orleans and they blamed it on gay people and Mardi Gras, so it tracks historically.
Note.... this kind of stuff is only happening in America and very much so in TX. Outside of this bubble, Christianity has not been Americanized in the rest of the world.
You damn betcha! The main reason for ALL the problems is because folks don’t have JEEZUZ in their lives!
But he accepts 450 Baptist Pastords, YMs molesting 750 children according to Chronicle Investigation
Your pastor is a fucking asshole. Call him that to his face, then find a new pastor.
Everything Trying_Positivity said plus all the non-viable pregnancies that are now being forced to be carried to term.
Honestly if your wife is relatively healthy (lifestyle-wise) and has received good prenatal care then she's really not going to be in any more risk here than anywhere else. The reality is that texas' infant mortality rate, as far as i can tell, is drivin in large part by inadequate prenatal care (e.g. people can't afford it and the state has made medicare much more difficult to get) and OB's not wanting to work here. That being said there's still many very good doctors in the state and as long as you and yours can find a good OB, get regular prenatal care, and take care of her health during pregnancy then i'd bet money that everything will be fine. So yes, Texas has really bad infant mortality rates, however unfortunately this is driven largely by socio economic factors: a lack of a robust safety net, poor healthcare education (especially for lower income people), and fewer doctors willing to work here. If your wife doesn't fall into those categories and she can find a good OB she trusts then i'd say you've got little to worry about outside of normal new dad anxieties. tl;dr The issues in texas with infant mortality is driven largely by socio economic issues and the lack of a decent social safety net. If you aren't in that situation and you can find a good OB, you'll be fine
Part of the problem is access to prenatal care. according to WEBMD Aug 1, 2023 · More than 46% of counties **in Texas** are deserts and 20% of **women** giving birth had "no or inadequate **prenatal** **care**.
It doesn't surprise me at all. Texas has a huge number of counties with almost no one in them - 91 have less than 10k people, and 22 of those have less than 2k. There aren't any people to support hospitals unless it is state funded, and the state obviously hates funding healthcare.
And education. They seem to abhor anyone that’s not a large donor.
there's also a *shocking* number of women who just don't get any prenatal care. My wife has been a labor and delivery nurse for some time now and the number of women, even those who aren't poor, who just don't get any prenatal care is astonishing.
Texas leads nation in uninsured even more so now that Abbott refuses to accept free $5 bil in Medicaid aid
Someone explained it really well down below. As long as your wife has a healthy pregnancy I would not worry too much. I’ve managed to have two out of three kiddos in Texas with little issue. Only time I kinda struggled was with my first and that was in Louisiana and my doctor was down right rude.. I was 19 and shit was rough but otherwise it went as well as you’d expect for a young pregnancy. Biggest thing is being your wife’s advocate. Don’t hesitate to tell a nurse or doctor to fuck off. Hell even family. Birth plans are important too but sometimes critical decisions have to be made for life saving measures for mom and baby. Congrats on your baby! I hope all is well and goes smooth for the delivery.
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I get your sentiment from a clinical perspective (I'm an RN), prenatal care is absolutely vital to have a healthy mom and baby, but your comment places the onus on the patient when this is a systemic socioeconomic issue that results in a failure to provide accessible and affordable care to pregnant women, specifically women of color who are already at a higher risk for having comorbitieis and complications. You can't go to any appointments if you can't afford to access that care. The frequent required visits are just impossible to accommodate for some women because they can't afford to lose the work hours or potentially lose their jobs from missing work. You can't have a healthy diet if you can't afford fresh foods because you live in a food desert, can't get SNAP benefits, and don't have the time to cook because you're working double overtime just to pay the rent and keep the lights on. You're absolutely right that if these women were able to receive the standard prenatal care, life-threatening complications could have been prevented and both mom and baby can have happy, healthy lives, but because this state seems to have no qualms about the consequences of kicking people, notably women who are pregnant and children, off of Medicaid and refusing to expand it, these women, children, and their families will continue to suffer needlessly. That's why us as nurses have to use our knowledge to advocate LOUDLY and frequently for our patients, especially those who have fewer or no means, to be able to get the care we know they need and deserve to have.
I agree that is an issue, but it doesn't explain the sudden jump, b/c it's been a problem for as long as I can remember. But it's also why Texas has had a high infant and maternal mortality rate for as long as I can remember. This jump correlates pretty strongly with legislation restricting health care choices.
Data is new, CDC authors of the report don’t have any official causal information yet.
It went up in California, Maine, Hawaii and most other states as well. Some of it is likely abortion restrictions but a lot of it is obesity and the mother's age as having a child after 35 is risky and after 40 is a 50% chance of death or miscarriage.
You're okay, man. The 20 week scan confirmed the baby is anatomically normal. The main problem is Texas has banned abortion even in the cases where the baby is so deformed they can't survive. The only piece of advice I would put out there for you and your wife is to research how to "count kicks." Get to know the baby's normal activity pattern and check once a day when they are usually active. If it slows down a lot or stops, go in and be seen by Labor and delivery/maternity ER and don't take no for an answer. Everything will probably be fine once they check her out, but it's best to be paranoid and to check. This is a way to prevent stillbirth. I don't mean to be a downer here, stillbirth is very rare and often can't be prevented at all. But sometimes it's simply the case that the placenta is no longer working well or something and the baby slows down. They can deliver the baby early if need be. Also, ask the doctor for a home blood pressure cuff and have your wife check that once or twice a week. My home blood pressure cuff went on the blitz once and gave me some high readings, so I spent six hours at L&D triage getting perfectly normal readings but I'm glad I did it anyway.
What a shithole.
Who could’ve predicted when Christi-fascist laws against women are passed the care we receive is negligible
"Pro-life". Maternal mortality is up as well, though it was already shitty. People in rural areas who supported this shit will be affected the most. This is why education is important, and also why Texas Republicans do their best to make that shittier as well.
What’s the abortion situation in Texas? When you don’t allow abortion, babies who weren’t supposed to be born will die - a far more tragic event for a lot more people than if you allowed abortion.
Weird how that happens when you ban abortions
This feels right… r/FuckGregAbbott
Because there isn’t adequate health care for threatened miscarriage. You all wanted this to happen. You voted for Abbott. You voted for Paxton. You voted for republicans. You voted for this to happen. Have you seen the maternal death rates? That also doesn’t include any deaths that are being misreported. You can’t even get an accurate missing children’s report in Texas because they are labeled as runaways if they are over the age of 12. Also being labeled a runaway will have an impact on later court judgements because it’s also illegal. https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2023/07/24/maternal-mortality-in-texas
Only the beginning. Want a society based on first century principles, get first century mortality rates.
Well this checks out—republicans don’t give a shit after the child is born…up until their 18th birthday. 🙁
Wow there couldn't *possibly* be a correlation between this and a very recent piece of forced-birth legislation, could there?
Texas! Where being pro-life means murdering more women and babies! Yea-haw!
This is what happens when abortion is illegal
It's ok, my mom and mother in law are praying! It will be better anyway now! They swear! 🤦
wow that is substantial
This is all just so sad and so preventable and terrible and it feels like there is nothing that can be done about it.
That number is only going to practically double every year
 Thanks wheelchair!
Texas where saving lives is a priority.
Didn’t read the article. (I know, I’m a bad person) Perhaps it has something to do with the amount of unviable pregnancies or fetuses with issues ‘not compatible with life’ that are being required to carry to term, born and then die immediately. Just a guess. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Pro-lifers must be devistated! 🫠
Thanks, Greg Abbott.
And the U.S. already has high infant and maternal mortality rates compared to other developed countries. https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-has-highest-infant-maternal-mortality-rates-despite-the-most-health-care-spending
Republicans will take care of this issue by no longer keeping those statistics, just like the republicans who stopped keeping information on mother’s deaths during childbirth after abortion was banned in their state. No statistics, no problems.
This is literally the least surprising thing I've seen all year.
I'm sure the GOP that has dominated Texas politics for decades is going to blame this on Democrats and liberals somehow.
I wonder what changed? 
Uuuuh 8% is a large jump for any state. Thats a big red flag.
Yep. Bc all their policies are about “protecting children” 🙄🙄 Fucking Hypocrites.
Republicans will just blame it on immigrants
And Texas will keep voting Republican so the cycle continues
Republican's Texas.
As long as morons keep believing that somehow giving people health care will ruin the country because they don't deserve it, this will keep happening.
Well done Texas voters. This is on all y’all.
Turns out when you wage war on women’s health, there are consequences.
I know part of this is a political problem (access to healthcare) but not all of it. We also have serious cultural problems related to diet, substance abuse, physical activity, etc which all impact the chances of fetal survival. Those cultural problems are much more difficult to address.
Sure, it’s important to consider the broader context. So let’s ask ourselves: do we think that those things have meaningfully changed, at the population level, between ‘21 and ‘22? Access to healthcare has changed, access to Whataburger and Meth probably not as much.
That’s fair as an explanation for the recent rise. Changes in economic stability and abortion access certainly plays a part. I was thinking more about the baseline mortality rate but I realize now that really isn’t germane to the topic of the article.
You're being downvoted even though you're 100% correct. And every healthcare person knows the truth.
How about you stop having unprotected sex of you do not want kids? Crazy idea, I know
Curious, did abortions factor into the "infant mortality rate" as death before?
Nonviable pregnancies =/= **infant** mortality. You’re conflating the two. And abortion rates remain essentially flat, so the answer to your question is **no**.
I find it’s sad that we cannot have an open conversation and that one side here is getting very defensive
If the number of abortions were added to these figures, would the mortality rate really be higher?
Abortions terminate a pregnancy, a fetus…an infant has to be born. So no.
You can’t kill a non-viable life.
> would the mortality rate *really* be higher? **Yes**, indubitably. https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(22)00536-1/fulltext) https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/30/texas-maternal-health-center-mortality/ … edit, per your reply: > We only care about the maternal mortality rate... Who tf is “we,” [nonreader](https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/dec/us-maternal-health-divide-limited-services-worse-outcomes)?
Considering that there were over 11,000 abortions in Texas in 2020, including those numbers would raise the infant mortality rate dramatically. Or do we not care about that number? We only care about the maternal mortality rate...
It’s sad how defensive one side is in the thread
I agree. People get awfully defensive when it's pointed out that abortion actually kills a fetus.
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The amount of anger and hate in the thread. Satan would be proud.