Fears rise as three Alabama hospitals prepare to stop delivering babies

[Jilly_in_VA]

By the end of the month, two Alabama hospitals will stop delivering babies. A third will follow suit a few weeks later.

That will leave two counties — Shelby and Monroe — without any birthing hospitals, and strip a predominantly Black neighborhood in Birmingham of a sought-after maternity unit.

After that, pregnant women in Shelby County will have to travel at least 17 miles farther to reach a hospital with an OB-GYN. And because the county, one of Alabama’s largest, is bordered by another whose hospital also lacks an obstetrics unit, some of those residents are also losing the closest place they could go to deliver their babies.

“There’s a sense of dread knowing that there’s going to be families who are now not only driving to the county over, but driving through three counties,” said Honour McDaniel, director of maternal and infant health initiatives for the March of Dimes in Alabama.

People in Monroe County, meanwhile, could face drives between 35 to 100 miles to a labor and delivery department.

Trekking that far to give birth is not unheard of in Alabama, in which more than a third of the counties are maternity care deserts, according to the March of Dimes — meaning they have no hospital with obstetrics care, birth centers, OB-GYNs or certified nurse midwives.

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

Thanks, SCOTUS.

[ALBliberal]

1. Horrible

[Lovie777]

2. WTF................

Unfortunately this trend will continue. Dark ages have arrived, the morality rate will sky rocket for mother and child.

[2naSalit]

4. +1

To be fair, the Dark Ages were the last time they were able to control the vast majorities with their bullshit because they had them all scared of the dark.

[Silent Type]

3. Honestly, I think it is more a funding issue than due to Supreme Court. But SC didn't help.

"In some cases, keeping maternity units open is a financial challenge, since the departments aren’t always profitable, several Alabama physicians said. Around 9% of the state’s residents have no health insurance, according to a report from the Census Bureau, and almost half of the births in Alabama are covered by Medicaid. Reimbursements for that program can be substantially lower than for private insurance plans. . . . . .

“There’s something broken about the funding stream that helps us take care of our women and children,” Waits said.

"Such challenges are not isolated to Alabama. lly, fewer than half of rural hospitals have labor and delivery services, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a policy-focused nonprofit.

"And so far this year, obstetrics departments have also closed in California, Idaho, Massachusetts and Tennessee."

From article quoted in OP.


I remember rural hospitals closing obstetrics units in the 1980s.

[PSPS]

5. "almost half of the births in Alabama are covered by Medicaid"

The shocking statistic is that almost half of births nationwide are covered by Medicaid and it has been that way for a long time. The real problem is widespread poverty. But we can all feel reassured because billionaires don't have to pay taxes.

[niyad]

6. and the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace.