Health care reform: a death sentence for Texas mothers
If the U.S. Senate approves the health care overhaul the House passed Thursday, soon health insurance companies will no longer be obligated to cover reproductive health care. Maternity coverage, well-woman visits, prescription drugs, birth control and even newborn care will become optional if Trumpcare 2.0 eliminates essential wellness benefits. This could spell disaster for Texas mothers, who already die at a much higher rate than in any other developed country in the world.
The maternal mortality rate refers to the number of deaths during pregnancy or for one year afterwards per 100,000 live births. America’s maternal mortality rate is stunningly high for a wealthy nation. Not only that, but — in stark contrast with the majority of the world — it’s on the upswing.
Between 2000 and 2015, global death rates fell by more than a third, with countries like Iran and Romania seeing reductions. But in America, the maternal mortality rate increased by 26.6 percent, putting us on par with nations like Bahrain and Qatar. These figures from two 2016 reports are appalling enough on their own, but the situation in Texas is even more dire.
After a moderate uptick in maternal deaths between 2000 and 2010, the maternal mortality rate in Texas doubled 2011-2014, according to data from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Some of these deaths stem from the GOP’s never-ending quest to decimate abortion access. In denying funds to clinics that provide abortions, Texas Republicans have gutted the number of affordable health care options available to poor and uninsured women. In 2011, GOP shenanigans shuttered 82 clinics, leaving half of the women who depended on them without medical care.
Low-income women face several obstacles to medical care beyond cost, including a lack of transportation, time off from work and child care. A nearby clinic closing can spell the difference between seeing a doctor or doing without. In 2014, 96 percent of Texas counties lacked an abortion clinic — a 39 percent reduction in clinics since 2011. The absence of an abortion clinic can mean there’s no low-cost family planning clinic, since they are often one and the same.
The top three causes of maternal death are cardiac problems, drug overdoses and mental health issues, according to the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force. African-American women die at disproportionately higher rates than white and Hispanic women.
So, what is the Texas Legislature doing to address our maternal health crisis?
The House passed a budget that would further cut funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates — although it scrounged up $20 million for crisis pregnancy centers that counsel women against abortion and provide pregnancy resources and classes, but don’t offer any medical care.
Though three Houston state representatives — Democrats Jessica Farrar and Garnet Coleman, and Republican Sarah Davis — have proposed bills to expand screening and treatment for postpartum depression, all three bills — House Bills 2604, 2466 and 2135 — are languishing in committee. There may not be time enough in the current legislative session for them to advance.
Even if they pass into law before the legislative session ends this month, these bills don’t go far enough in addressing the reasons Texas mothers are dying in higher and higher numbers. With Congress poised to remove what few guarantees exist to ensure coverage for pregnancy, prescriptions, mental health, and substance abuse — and while the Texas GOP unapologetically dismembers the network of affordable clinics statewide — the maternal mortality rate in Texas is poised to climb ever higher. How many women should die before our lawmakers pay attention?
We must demand that our representatives in Austin and Washington, D.C., stop treating women’s health care as an afterthought. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.