Category: Pregnancy
Report: Loss of Hospital-Based Obstetrics Care Prevalent in Rural Counties
The less populated a rural county is, the more likely it is to lose obstetrics services, especially “noncore” counties that have no towns with more than 10,000 residents. Among those noncore counties, 148 (or 11%) lost all hospital-based obstetrics services, 15 of those between 2022 and 2023.
Research: Policies to Keep Rural Maternity Units Open Not Working
Maternity care is a service that is necessary, but not well reimbursed, and in rural areas with a heavy reliance on Medicaid for financial support, continuing to fund that service can be a difficult decision for hospital administrators to make.
Despite federal shift, state health officials encourage COVID vaccines for pregnant women
Experts say the federal shift puts the onus on state health agencies to ramp up vaccine guidance and outreach. Clinicians and public health organizations are trying to dispel misinformation and make sure information reaches low-income people and people of color, who had higher maternal death rates during the pandemic.
Report: More Rural Maternity Departments Facing Closure
Only 42% of U.S. rural hospitals still offer labor and delivery services. In 11 states, less than a third of the hospitals do, the study found.
HHS Eliminates CDC Staff Who Made Sure Birth Control Is Safe for Women at Risk
For more than a decade, a small team of people at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked to do just that, issuing national guidelines for clinicians on how to prescribe contraception safely for millions of women with underlying medical conditions — including heart disease, lupus, sickle cell disease, and obesity.
UW researchers develop test to predict preeclampsia
Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have developed an approach that can predict preeclampsia in pregnant women as early as the first trimester by using cell-free DNA in blood samples. Such a screening test could enable earlier interventions and help prevent the severe complications of preeclampsia.
GOP lawmakers push to charge women with homicide for seeking abortions
‘Fetal personhood’ bills would grant fetuses, embryos the same rights as newborns.
Texas Banned Abortion…
Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
Maternal death reviews get political as state officials intrude
Every state has a committee of medical and public health experts tasked with investigating deaths that occur during and after pregnancy. But as data paints a clearer picture of the impact that state policies such as abortion bans and Medicaid expansion can have on maternal health, leaders in some states are rushing to limit their review committee’s work — or halt it altogether.
Study: Obstetrics Units in Rural Communities Declining
According to the researchers, the decline of obstetrics units in rural communities is contributing to rising maternal morbidity rates.
For Many Rural Women, Finding Maternity Care Outweighs Concerns About Abortion Access
A study that examined nearly 5,000 acute care hospitals found that by 2022, 52% of rural hospitals lacked obstetrics care after more than a decade of unit closures. The health implications of those closures for young women, the population most likely to need pregnancy care, and their babies can be significant. Research has shown that added distance between a patient and obstetric care increases the likelihood the baby will be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.
How mother’s diet affects baby’s health: What insights from different cultures can tell us
A high-quality diet in pregnancy and healthy weight before pregnancy can reduce the risk of gestational diabetes and reduce the chance of transmitting this risk to one’s offspring.
200+ women faced criminal charges over pregnancy in year after Dobbs, report finds
In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the federal right to abortion in June 2022, 210 pregnant women in a dozen states were criminally charged for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth. Six states — Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi and Texas — accounted for most cases.
Wildfire smoke is a health risk for pregnant people — both physically and mentally
As the West’s wildfire season worsens, a new Human Rights Watch report urges policymakers to address the toll it’s taking on pregnancy and birth outcomes.
Health News Headlines
I.V.F. Threats Drive Clinics to Ship Out Embryos – Teen mental health in US has improved post-pandemic – Is COVID Endemic Yet? Yep, Says The CDC.