“Surprisingly, the U.S. has made very little progress since 2000 in terms of maternal care. The risk of maternal death has actually risen by a rapid pace, going from from 1 in 3,700 to 1 in 2,400. A woman giving birth in the United States is now at the same maternal death risk as a woman giving birth in Iran or Romania.”
This is happening even though the US A spends more on health care than any other country and more on pregnancy and childbirth-related hospital costs, $86 billion, than any other type of hospital care.
Compare the American maternal death risk, which is at 1 in 2,400, to 1 in 14,000 in Poland. 1 in 16,300 in Belarus. 1 in 25,100 in Estonia. 1 in 15,300 in Singapore.
In 2014, the World Health Organization released a study which found that while most countries around the world — both developed and developing — have seen a decrease in maternal deaths, the U.S. maternal mortality ratio has increased 136% since 1990.
How can people possibly think that ‘socialized medicine’ is bad when American private medicine is obviously the most expensive and ineffective system imaginable? Money lines the pockets of corporations and buys nothing for the American people.
Of course, the statistics are hiding inequality – the ‘average’ American woman isn’t anything. Rich, usually white American women are giving birth in luxury and safety, with the best facilities possible. Middle class women are much worse off than their European neighbors, but can generally scrape together enough money to pay for prenatal care. Poor, usually black or minority ethnic American women face incredible danger and loss. The risk for African-American women is almost four times the risk for white women.
A 2010 report by Amnesty International revealed that severe pregnancy-related complications that nearly cause death — known as “near misses” — are rising at an alarming rate in the USA, increasing by 25 percent since 1998.
Finland was the safest place in the world to have children for the second year in a row….it is also cheaper than the American system. It’s not perfect, and Finland will become worse as it swings to the right, but that’s a whole other issue.
Americans think it’s the 50s and 60s and we’re number one. We’re really not….we’re really not anywhere close to number one in anything, except war.
Reproduction is a feminist issue. Why is abortion such an important issue, but the 2-3 women dying every day during pregnancy and childbirth are ignored? How can pro-lifers can get away with pretending abortion is dangerous (it’s much safer than deciding to go through with a pregnancy) while childbirth kills women and babies, and pro-lifers don’t care at all? This is never going to change in the USA without a radical shift to the left. When the quality of health care that women can access depends on their wealth, then women and babies will continue to die. Health care is a human right, not a privilege for the wealthy elite. As long as there is no public health care system, as long as health care is for-profit, as long as there is a class system, we are sacrificing women and children on the altar of capitalism.
More conclusions from Amnesty International:
• Burdensome bureaucratic procedures in Medicaid enrollment substantially delay access to vital prenatal care for pregnant women seeking government-funded care.
• A shortage of health care professionals is a serious obstacle to timely and adequate care, especially in rural areas and inner cities. In 2008, 64 million people were living in “shortage areas” for primary care (which includes maternal care).
• Many women are not given a say in decisions about their care and the risks of interventions such as inducing labor or cesarean sections. Cesarean sections make up nearly one-third of all deliveries in the US A – twice as high as recommended by the World Health Organization.
• The number of maternal deaths is significantly understated because of a lack of effective data collection in the US A .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/the-50-best-places_n_4493695.html
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8585863/k.9F31/State_of_the_Worlds_Mothers.htm
hannamaria 