In the politicized environment surrounding elective abortion in the United States, pro-abortion ideologues have weaponized, but not addressed, an important women’s health issue: the prevalence of regions in the U.S. with limited or no access to maternity health care services, also known as “maternity care deserts.”
Many American women live in rural areas, often long distances from obstetric and emergency care. Hospitals in such areas are frequently underfunded, sometimes leading to their closures. Making matters worse, medical providers often will not work in these underpopulated areas, a problem exacerbated by reports that obstetric providers are leaving rural areas due to misinformation about state abortion laws. The result is a rapid growth of maternity care deserts, increasing the likelihood of adverse maternal outcomes for rural women and their babies.
Pro-abortion medical organizations, like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Commonwealth Fund, have tried to frighten doctors and pregnant women by claiming many of the states that have implemented limits on elective abortion post-Dobbs have higher maternal mortality ratios (MMR) than non-restrictive states, implying that the laws are to blame, and that limiting elective abortion will increase maternal deaths.
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