Maternal Mortality: A National Embarrassment

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Anna C.

Americans spend more money on childbirth than any other country, but we’re not getting a good return on our investment.

Less than a century ago, approximately one mother died for every 100 live births — an occurrence so common that nearly everyone belonged to a family, or knew of one, that was devastated by such a loss. Fortunately, in most nations, those tragedies have declined over the years. In fact, in the decade between 2003 and 2013, only eight countries saw their maternal mortality rates rise.

Unfortunately, the United States was one of those eight countries, joining a club that also includes Afghanistan and South Sudan. Within the 31 industrialized countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an American woman is more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than a citizen of any other country besides Mexico. Among developed countries, the United States has one of the highest maternal mortality rates — and those rates are only getting worse.

Graph: CDC

U.S. maternal mortality has attracted the attention of organizations whose oversight you wouldn’t expect. Amnesty International, which most Americans associate with the fight against human rights abuses in far-flung authoritarian regimes, considers our high maternal mortality rates to be a violation of human rights. Additionally — and pathetically — one of the biggest sources of funding for maternal health in the United States comes not from taxpayers but from the pharmaceutical company Merck. The Economist quoted a Merck spokesperson as saying, “We expected to be doing all our work in developing countries.” Continue reading →

Bearing the Burden of Injustice: Black Maternal Mortality

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Anna C.

When it comes to maternal mortality, American women don’t all live in the same country. While white women live in Qatar, black women live in Mongolia.

Maternal mortality is death related to complications from pregnancy or childbirth. Most of us don’t come from a time or place where the prospect of dying in childbirth is a tangible possibility — in the past century, as medicine has advanced, maternal mortality rates have plummeted.

To raise healthy families, we need access to general and reproductive health care, including preventive care, prenatal care, and maternity care.

The United States, though, hasn’t come as far as would be expected. Although its wealth should have put it on par with other developed nations like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and those in Scandinavia, women in these countries fare far better than those in the United States. So do women in Libya, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Bulgaria, and Kazakhstan, indicating that national priorities — and not necessarily national wealth — are key to ensuring maternal health.

The United States’ high maternal mortality rate is heartbreaking no matter how you look at it, but is even worse for women of color. African-American women are 3.5 times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy or childbirth than white women. Between 2011 and 2013, the maternal mortality rate for white women was 12.7 deaths per 100,000 live births. Comparing that to 2015 data from the World Health Organization (WHO), that rate puts white women’s maternal mortality on par with mothers in Qatar and Bahrain, two wealthy Persian Gulf nations. African-American women, however, suffered 43.5 deaths per 100,000 live births, putting their maternal mortality on par with those of Turkmenistan, Brazil, and Mongolia. Continue reading →

Healing Hearts, Honoring My Mother

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Amanda

Whether it be a chocolate heart, a broken heart, or someone having your heart, Valentine’s Day has the word heart on all of our lips. While the clichés can be cute or sickening, depending on your general outlook of the holiday, the word heart has become an identity for our personality in reference to our emotions.

Very few people will first think of the pump-like organ that regulates blood circulation from its home in our chests. Even fewer people give thought to the health of that organ, which is unfortunate since 1 in 4 deaths is caused by heart disease, making it the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. To refocus our awareness of the true definition of the word, February is American Heart Month.

You can be proactive about your heart health — and that of those you love.

There are different kinds of heart disease, which obviously means that there are different causes. While cardiovascular disease can refer to different heart or blood vessel problems, the definition is widely used in reference to damage done by a buildup of fatty plaques in your arteries. As that buildup thickens, the walls of the arteries harden, which obstructs blood from being distributed to your organs.

This process is called atherosclerosis, but we know it as coronary artery disease. While some heart conditions can be due to heart defects that you may have been born with, atherosclerosis is the most common cause of cardiovascular disease and is caused predominantly by correctable problems: obesity, lack of exercise, an unhealthy diet, and smoking. Continue reading →

National Breastfeeding Month: A Glimpse Into My Breastfeeding Journey

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona

The following guest post comes to us via Cynthia.

Breastfeeding is the most natural, rewarding, challenging, frustrating, amazing, and empowering thing I have ever done. While I was in my second trimester of pregnancy, I was starting to make all kinds of decisions about how I wanted to care for my baby, including diapers, daycare, pediatrician, and breastfeeding. After doing the research and talking to other women about breastfeeding, I decided it was the best decision for me. There are amazing benefits.

I was referred to a lactation consultant. I called this woman my fairy milk mother.

In fact, there are so many great benefits the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has a health initiative around breastfeeding and recommends that babies be breastfed through 6 months of age. A breastfed baby gets a nutritional superfood (to use a popular phrase) that is so dense with beneficial vitamins, minerals, and fats that the list of ingredients is long enough to fill several sheets of paper (women’s bodies are pretty spectacular).

Breast milk is powerful stuff, too. Studies show that breast milk will boost the immune system of the baby and benefit the mother’s health as well, in addition to reducing her chance of breast cancer. Additionally, breastfeeding reduces the rate of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and future obesity for infants as they go into childhood and adulthood. Oh, and breastfeeding helps a mom shed her pregnancy pounds quicker — bonus!

Breastfeeding also provides the opportunity to bond with a baby in a close and personal way (the AAP makes note of this benefit too). My favorite times were when I could sit with my son on my lap and just relax. I didn’t do anything else but touch his soft baby skin, look at his toes and fingers, store in my memory the chubby cheeks, little nose, and rosebud lips, and lovingly stroked his back and legs. Thinking about it now, the sweet scent of my little one comes back to me. There is never another moment like when a child is an infant. Soon they will be crawling, walking, and then running. And that close time does wonders for a baby, providing reassurance, confidence, and a closeness that lasts beyond infancy. Continue reading →

What Is Preeclampsia?

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Jon Brown

Prenatal care is important for a healthy pregnancy.

May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month, and to be fully honest I didn’t know a thing about what preeclampsia was until I sat down to write this blog post. What I found out is alarming.

Preeclampsia is a blood pressure disorder and it affects 2 to 8 percent of pregnant women. It belongs to a group known as hypertensive disorders, which is the leading cause of maternal deaths. As a group, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which includes preeclampsia as well as other disorders, account for 11.1 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in this country.

Prenatal care from a trusted ob/gyn is crucial!

Symptoms of preeclampsia can include a constant headache, belly pain under the ribs on the right side, swelling (legs, hands, and feet), decreased urination, protein in your urine, nausea with vomiting, and vision changes such as temporary blindness. In extreme cases, when preeclampsia develops into eclampsia, it is characterized by high blood pressure and seizures. Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Stacey S.

A man to whom we owe tremendous gratitude, Carl Djerassi, one of the creators of THE birth control pill, passed away last week. (NYT)
Missouri wants to pass legislation forcing women about to undergo an abortion to watch a video warning them of alleged “abortion risks,” “including, but not limited to, infection, hemorrhage, cervical tear or uterine perforation, harm to subsequent pregnancies or the ability to carry a subsequent child to term, and possible adverse psychological effects.” Hmm, know what else carries those same risks annnnnd a higher risk of death? Carrying a pregnancy to term and delivering a baby. I’m guessing the video won’t promote that science, though! (Think Progress)
With the majority of pregnancies in the state being unintended (58 percent), the second-highest poverty rate in the United States, and one of the highest STD rates in the country, Louisiana needs Planned Parenthood. However, anti-abortion zealots in the state are fighting the opening of a new Planned Parenthood health center instead of starting a grassroots campaign to cure the issues causing the need. #Logic (Cosmopolitan)
Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan has come over from the Dark Side and is now pro-choice. So nice to have you — now please help effect change in your rabidly anti-abortion state, sir. (USA Today)
Michigan Rep. Brandon Dillon is on our side too now. Is there something in the water out there in the Midwest, and can we import it to Arizona, like, yesterday? (MLive)
Sugary drinks, obesity, and family distress are all cited as reasons for early puberty in young girls. (NYT)
The House (Republicans, of coooooourse) voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act again. ’Cause, ya know, the 56th time’s the charm. (NPR)
Grab your surgical and/or gas masks, fellow Arizonans. Hundreds of schools in our state are skirting the vaccination mandates at great peril to us all. (AZ Central)
Anti-abortion creeps and anti-vaccination creeps: birds of a stupid feather. (RH Reality Check)
AARP & Astroglide: The over-70 set is still actively sexing each other up! Good for them! (HuffPo)
From crisis pregnancy centers to clinic protesters, we’re quite used to abortion foes telling filthy lies to justify their agendas. Which is why it’s hard to be surprised that Texas got faux “experts” to lie and use discredited science to close half of the abortion clinics in the state. (Slate)