NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — A new report shows that millions of women of childbearing age across the United States have limited or no access to maternity care.
March of March of Dimes’ new report, “Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S.,” revealed access to maternity care is diminishing in places where it’s needed most, impacting nearly seven million American women of childbearing age and roughly 500,000 babies.
The third update of the report, produced in partnership with Reckitt, shows a 2% increase in counties classified as maternity care deserts since the 2020 report, primarily driven by hospital and maternity care unit closures and loss of obstetrics providers.
The data reinforces that the U.S. is still among the most dangerous developed nations for childbirth, especially in rural areas and communities of color.
Maternity care deserts are counties without a hospital or birth center offering obstetrics care and without any obstetrics providers.
The report showed that Lake County is among five California counties listed as having “moderate” access to maternity care.
In Lake County, both hospitals, Adventist Health Clear Clearlake and Sutter Lakeside Hospital, have birthing centers.
However, in July, a lack of available obstetricians led to Sutter Lakeside closing its birthing center for four days, as Lake County News has reported.
In addition to Lake, the counties with moderate access are Calaveras, San Benito, Tehama and Yuba.
Another five counties are ranked at maternity care deserts. They include neighboring Colusa and Glenn counties, Alpine, Modoc and Sierra.
Two other counties, Imperial and Madera, are listed as having low access.
The remaining 46 counties in California are rated as having full access to maternity care.
“With an average of two women dying every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth and two babies dying every hour, our country is facing a unique and critical moment as the infant and maternal health crisis continues intensifying,” said Stacey D. Stewart, president and CEO. “With hospital closures, inflation and COVID-19 limiting access to care, the compounding issues of our time are bearing down on families, forcing them to extend themselves in new ways to find the care they need and ways to afford it. Access to maternity care should not be optional, which is why we’re launching the Mamagenda for #BlanketChange to build support for policies to ensure all families everywhere have access to high quality maternity care.”
Specifically, the 2022 Maternity Care Deserts Report shows:
• 36% of counties across the U.S. are designated as maternity care deserts, counties with zero obstetric hospitals or birth centers and zero obstetric providers.;
• 2.2 million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts and more than 146,000 babies are born there;
• 5% of counties have a worse designation in this report than in the 2020 report;
• Nearly 7 million women are living in communities with no or limited access to maternity care. 1 in 8 babies are born in these areas;
• The loss of obstetric providers and obstetric services in hospitals were responsible for decreases in maternity care access in over 110 counties between this report and the 2020 report;
• 1 in 4 Native American babies were born in areas with no or limited access to maternity care services; and
• 1 in 6 Black babies were born in areas with no or limited access to maternity care services.
“Our 2022 report confirms lack of access to care is one of the biggest barriers to safe, healthy pregnancies and is especially impacting rural areas and communities of color where families face economic strains in finding care,” said Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, senior vice president and interim chief medical and health officer. “While we’ve seen a slight increase in obstetric providers nationwide, we continue seeing a troubling decrease in providers serving rural areas. In fact, only seven percent of obstetric providers serve rural areas and, with more than 500,000 babies born to women living in these areas, families in rural areas are at higher risk for poor outcomes.”
As part of the effort to address the growing infant and maternal health crisis, March of Dimes works to evolve the Maternity Care Desert Report year after year to reflect recent advancements.
In partnership with Elevance Health Foundation, March of Dimes will release supplemental reports on the availability of maternity care in all 50 states, as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico in Spring 2023.
New report looks at ‘maternity deserts’ across the U.S.; Lake ranked as ‘moderate’ access
- LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS