Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/23/5-years-after-texas-gops-att.html
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Well, what a nutty coincidence. I mean, it was done for the health of the babbies, so what could go wrong?
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I bet the pro-lifers won’t care about this. That’s the crazy irony in the pro-life movement. They don’t care about the lives of the mothers, and they only care about the lives of the babies up to the moment of birth. And as far as that goes, they only care about the lives of the babies in the context of abortion. They totally lost the plot.
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But about half the state 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. Just this month, Texas’s health department drew fire for allocating $1.6m of the $18m the state budgets for low-income women’s family planning to an anti-abortion group that does not provide basic health services.
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Whoa there, pardner!
We’re talkin’ about Texas here!
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Is that Nana Visitor?
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It’s nothing to worry about, the death rate is near zero among you and your friends.
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“Dipshit McHairdo”
Fits most TEAGOP.
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In a developed country such a rise in mortality would prompt lawmakers into acting, or at least reconsidering their position. I doubt that’ll happen in Texas.
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If you lead in maternal mortality what is the chance you lead in child mortality during birth as well?
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I just wish I’d come up with the name “Dipshit McHairdo.” That is brilliant, right there.
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At what point does the Xtian right wing denounce these findings as “fake science numbers” or as an attack on little baby Jeebus?
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Fuck those that did this. Fuck their power-hungry stupid faces.
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They don’t. It just gets ignored and the problem goes away!
All your problems go away when you ignore them! Magic!
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I’m so surprised!!!
/s
That’s why I started calling them “pro-birthers”. They don’t care about the baby or the mother once the baby is born, they are just trying to impress JEBUS.
Some parts might be developed. I’m not sure which ones, but some might be.
Amen
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To be fair, babies did mess with Texas.
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Don’t Breed On Me.
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“As ye reap”…etc…
What’s worse, ir seems to be centered on pregnant black women.
From today’s (8/23/16) Chronicle:
Grim report for state’s black women
Group’s rate of pregnancy-related deaths is worst among already grave state numbers
By Todd Ackerman
Black women bear the greatest risk
for pregnancy-related death in Texas by far, according to a much-awaited
new report, commissioned because the state rate resembles that of many
Third World countries.
The report, which follows the
publication of a national study that found Texas’ maternal mortality
rate has doubled since 2011, ranked heart conditions, overdose by legal
or illegal drugs and high blood pressure of pregnancy as the leading
causes of such
deaths.
“This confirms what we feared — that
many of these deaths could be prevented,” said state Rep. Armando
Walle, D-Houston, the House author of the 2013 bill that created a
Department of State Health Services maternal mortality task force and
charged it with producing biennial reports and recommendations. “It’s a
travesty that this is happening.”
In 2011 and 2012, the years studied
in the report, black women accounted for nearly 29 percent of all
maternal deaths, even though they gave birth to only
11 percent of all babies. In
comparison, white women accounted for 38 percent of deaths and 35
percent of births and Hispanic women, the lowest risk group, accounted
for 31 percent of deaths, even though they gave birth to 48 percent of
babies.
The report, released late last week,
also found that mental health and substance use disorders play a
significant role in maternal death. It cited providers’ “repeated missed
opportunities” to screen women and refer them to treatment for mental
health and substance use disorders.”
To address the root causes, the report called for increased access to health services, including mental
and behavioral health screenings
during the preconception and prenatal periods; and appointments to
detect, monitor and manage active and latent health risks and
morbidities and promote birth spacing between pregnancies, particularly
the year after delivery.
‘Extremely concerning’
Dr. Lisa Hollier, a Baylor College
of Medicine obstetrician-gynecologist and task force chair, said
“maternal mortality and maternal morbidity is going to require a
multi-disciplinary approach across many different health systems and
organizations.” She said the issue is “extremely concerning.”
Unlike last week’s study in Obstetrics & Gynecology
that found a dramatic spike in
pregnancy-related deaths in the year since the state’s drastic 2011
reduction in funding for Planned Parenthood and other women’s health
clinics, there were few numbers in the report. It instead focuses on the
causes of Texas’ rate, demographic breakdowns and suggestions for how
to reverse the trend. None of that analysis was part of the Obstetrics
& Gynecology study.
That study reported that from 2011
to 2015, 537 women in Texas died in pregnancy or within 42 days of
delivery, up from 296 in 2007 to 2010. The rate went from 18.6 deaths
per 100,000 births in 2010 to 38.7 in 2012, a 108.7 percent increase.
If Texas was a nation, those numbers would
rank last, behind Mexico, among 31 countries that report data to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
That the numbers were that high was a surprise to the Texas task force. They worked with data from 189 deaths in 2011 and 2012.
Study applauded
Marian MacDorman, the University of
Maryland-based lead author of the Obstetrics & Gynecology study said
she applauds the Texas team for “looking into the deaths in greater
detail.”
“Although the Texas Department of
Health study uses different methods and data sources from mine, I think
we both agree that maternal mortality is a serious problem in Texas,”
said MacDorman. “I especially appreciate
their policy recommendations for how to reduce it.”
The Texas report found most of the
state’s maternal deaths — 60 percent — occurred between 42 days and a
year after delivery. MacDorman’s study identified 262 Texas deaths in
the same two-year period based only on those who died within 42 days.
Walle said he is hopeful the report makes an impression on the 2017 Legislature.
“I’m not naïve to the fact we
haven’t expanded Medicaid, but something needs to be done to increase
access to pregnant women,” said Walle. “We can’t keeping letting federal
dollars go to other states while these women are dying.”
todd.ackerman@chron.com
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I have found an easy way to distinguish between the sort of hate-driven “pro-lifers” people are describing in this thread, which are the type that dominate the Texas Lege, and the people who legitimately are good and honest opponents of abortion.
Ask them how many unwanted children they have adopted. If it turns out they have taken as many children as they can afford, and given those children the best upbringing possible under the circumstances, then I’ll not argue with their moral right to castigate abortionists and their allies - essentially, they’ve paid up front for their principles.
And such people do exist. They’re just incredibly rare, in my experience. It’s much easier to find anti-abortion pro-choice people than a non-hateful pro-lifer.
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