Rx Kids launches in entire Upper Peninsula

A program that gives direct cash payments to pregnant and new mothers launched Monday across the entire Upper Peninsula. 

Rx Kids will provide U.P. mothers $1,500 while they're pregnant, and another $500 per month for the first six months of their baby's life. This is an expansion to the program, which was already available in the peninsula's eastern counties and several other communities in the state...

https://www.michiganpublic.org/health/2026-03-02/rx-kids-launches-in-entire-upper-peninsula 

 

As LA maternity wards close, patients are giving birth in ERs: ‘There’s no system to care for these women’

More than 35% of US counties are considered maternity care deserts, largely concentrated in rural areas, including in the south and midwest. But cities are not exempt from this trend. Research published by the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that 537 hospitals lost their obstetric services nationwide from 2010 to 2022, 299 of which were located in urban regions. 

The closures are driven partly by cost… 

There's fear that those financial pressures will only increase because of widespread cuts to the federal Medicaid program…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/26/los-angeles-maternity-wards-closing

 

What I Saw at a Maternity Ward in Kenya After the U.S. Cut Off Food and Foreign Aid — ProPublica

Photographs tell a story of two mothers determined to help their babies gain enough weight to leave the hospital — only to face little to no food again...

https://www.propublica.org/article/kakuma-kenya-matenity-ward-foreign-aid-cuts  

Doctors Give Black Women Unneeded C-Sections to Fill Operating Rooms, Study Suggests - The New York Times

Healthy Black women with low risk factors were far more likely to get C-sections than white women with similar medical histories, a large new study found...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/health/cesarean-sections-black-women.html

U.S. maternal health: State shares of rural hospitals without maternity care

Hospitals have been increasingly scaling back or cutting maternity services for financial reasons — while demand for obstetrics care rises as more states ban abortion…

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/23/maternity-care-rural-hospitals-states-map-cuts

As 3 Alabama hospitals prepare to close maternity units, fears rise

The closures come as the need for obstetrics care in Alabama is anticipated to rise as a result of its abortion laws. The state has banned almost all abortions since June 2022… 

"It seems no amount of money provided by the hospital board for the support of Labor and Delivery has been sufficient to maintain this service. We have supported, and would continue to support, Labor and Delivery if there was someone who could provide the service," the hospital said in a statement…

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/3-hospitals-closing-maternity-labor-delivery-units-alabama-rcna111374

Another Idaho hospital announces it can no longer deliver babies - Idaho Capital Sun

Valor Health's decision to stop offering labor and delivery care in Emmett comes on the heels of a North Idaho hospital shuttering its maternity services. 

It also comes as the Idaho Legislature is on track to defund research into preventing maternal deaths; as state lawmakers have banned nearly all abortions; and as Idaho chooses not extend its postpartum Medicaid coverage...

https://idahocapitalsun.com/briefs/another-idaho-hospital-announces-it-can-no-longer-deliver-babies/

Rural Hospitals Are Shuttering Their Maternity Units - The New York Times

Women in rural areas face a higher risk of pregnancy-related complications, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund. Those living in so-called maternity care deserts are three times as likely to die during pregnancy and the critical year afterward as those who are closer to care, according to a study of mothers in Louisiana...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/health/rural-hospitals-pregnancy-childbirth.html

Texas, red states consider expanding Medicaid after abortion restrictions - The Washington Post

The limits on … Medicaid coverage after the emergency insurance lapses hinges on Texas's long-standing rejection of Obamacare, which included provisions for expanded Medicaid. And it has set up an uncomfortable dynamic: While Texas and nearly a dozen other red states have resisted expanding Medicaid for those who are pregnant, many of them have also restricted access to abortion, leading to more new mothers needing coverage...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/29/abortion-medicaid-texas/

Opinion | Texas attorney general Ken Paxton's abortion lawsuit is hypocritical - The Washington Post

"Mr. Paxton professes to be pro-life. Yet he is saying that in cases where an emergency abortion is needed to save a woman's life, the doctor does not have a duty to save the woman's life. The courts should dismiss this harmful lawsuit."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/18/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-abortion-lawsuit-hypocritical/

Giving birth costs nearly $3,000 with insurance, new study says | PBS NewsHour

The findings underscore that, even as millions of Americans have lost their ability to terminate a pregnancy, giving birth remains unaffordable for many Americans. A previous KFF analysis found that 45 percent of single-person households did not have more than $2,000 available to pay for medical bills. Almost a third of multi-person households similarly lack sufficient cash to cover pregnancy and childbirth's out-of-pocket costs…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/giving-birth-costs-nearly-3000-with-insurance-new-study-says

Republican states trying to ban abortion expand health benefits for new mothers | US news | The Guardian

"It shows you how [Republicans] are not operating in good faith," said Loretta Ross, an associate professor at Smith College in Georgia and a reproductive justice activist. "If they really cared about maternal mortality they'd reduce the causes of maternal mortality – and it goes way beyond Medicaid expansion."… 

 "This kind of strategy pits needy people against each other," said Ross. "We're supposed to advocate for postpartum women to get Medicaid, and screw everybody else who needs it? It's a classic divide and conquer strategy."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/20/republican-states-health-benefits-new-mothers-abortion-bans

PolitiFact | The Air Force introduced maternity flight duty uniforms before Biden took office

A blog post shared on social media casts President Joe Biden as the man behind an unbelievable plot: sending pregnant women into battle...

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/10/blog-posting/air-force-introduced-maternity-flight-duty-uniform/

700 women die each year from pregnancy issues. The CDC says most of these deaths could be prevented - The Washington Post

One-third of the women who died from pregnancy-related complications died weeks or months after childbirth, up to a year after their babies were born, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/05/07/women-die-each-year-pregnancy-issues-cdc-says-most-deaths-could-be-prevented/

Bernie Sanders says it’s better to give birth in Finland than the U.S. He’s right - The Washington Post

A few years ago, personal finance writer Ester Bloom, faced with a four-figure health-insurance deductible and a narrow network of doctors to choose from, attempted to price out how much giving birth to her younger child would cost her. It turned out to be an all but impossible task...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/21/bernie-sanders-says-its-better-give-birth-finland-than-us-hes-right/

All the Questions You Should Ask Your Insurance Company Before You Have a Baby - VICE:

The Tonic guide to navigating health insurance for pregnant people, including how to get insurance, what's covered, and what steps you need to take before the baby arrives. ....
https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/pa8k5k/pregnancy-health-insurance-benefits

New York City Launches Initiative to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Maternal Death - ProPublica

A Central Brooklyn hospital featured in ProPublica and NPR's "Lost Mothers" series for its high hemorrhage rate will serve as a pilot for quality reforms.
https://www.propublica.org/article/new-york-city-launches-initiative-to-eliminate-racial-disparities-in-maternal-death

U.S. "most dangerous" place to give birth in developed world: USA Today -- CBS News

Every year in the U.S., more than 50,000 mothers are severely injured during or after childbirth and 700 die ....
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-most-dangerous-place-to-give-birth-in-developed-world-usa-today-investigation-finds/

Alone among developed nations, the US maternal mortality rate is rising. Here’s how we can fix that - The Hill

The time has come for an ambitious plan to stem the rising tide of tragic death and illness our nation is facing. ....
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/398860-alone-among-developed-nations-the-us-maternal-mortality-rate

It’s Awful How Many American Women Die Giving Birth—and Inexcusable That Most Deaths Are Preventable -- Mother Jones

The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world and is the only country where the rate of deaths from childbirth is increasing. And the majority of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States are preventable, according to a report released this month by Review to Action, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiative. ....
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/02/its-awful-how-many-american-women-die-giving-birth-and-inexcusable-that-most-deaths-are-preventable/