Texas childbirth death rates rise

?It's about women's health,? say state Sen. Donna Campbell and other supporters of a controversial abortion restriction bill about their motivation for fighting to pass Senate Bill 5.

Then Texans should be made aware of the state's grimmest medical statistic: women are more likely to die from childbirth than from an abortion. That's according to a study published in the February 2012 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology Medical Journal. The study, conducted by Dr. David Grimes, a clinical professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, found that nationally the risk of death associated with a full-term pregnancy and delivery is 8.8 deaths per 100,000, while the risk of death linked to legal abortion is 0.6 deaths per 100,000 women. That means a woman carrying a baby to term is 14 times more likely to die than a woman who chooses to have a legal abortion.

In Texas, the statistics are worse. In 2011 Texas women died in childbirth at a rate of 24.63 per 100,000. ?It's alarming,? said Dr. Donald Dudley, Obstetrician & Gynecologist at the UTHSC San Antonio.

Texas should be seeing only about 5 deaths per 100,000 said Dudley, and the present rate is comparable to a developing nation.

Childbirth morbidity is seen as the most sensitive indicator of the general health of a population, especially in urban conditions.

In the last legislative session, two bills were passed and signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry, forming a Texas Childhood Morbidity Task Force and creating levels of care designations for hospitals that provide neonatal and maternal services.

The task force will look for answers as to why giving birth in Texas is so deadly. Researchers say they already know: lack of prenatal care; women giving birth later in life; obesity; diabetes, and lack of access to quality lifelong health care. The task force will gather the data to back those observations up.

House Bill 1085 brings back to Texas childbirth mortality review boards that will look for answers into each mother's death. These review boards were commonplace in the United States 50 years ago. Today, they are again needed. An estimated 40 to 70 percent of the women's deaths during childbirth in Texas are preventable.

Dr. Lisa M. Hollier at Baylor College of Medicine Obstetrics & Gynecology helped lead the charge to pass the bills. She said she's excited the leaders of Texas are taking action but she also laments it could have happened two years ago in the previous legislative session. The bills were unable to get voted out of committee.

During the heated debates over a woman's right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term, we should also be debating if women have a right to a safe pregnancy and childbirth.

David Martin Davies is news director for Texas Public Radio.

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Texas-childbirth-death-rates-rise-4662589.php

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