Robert Reich: Right-wing policies are literally killing women

[ismnotwasm]

According to a report released last week in the widely-respected health research journal, The Lancet, the United States now ranks 60th out of 180 countries on maternal deaths occurring during pregnancy and childbirth.

To put it bluntly, for every 100,000 births in America last year, 18.5 women died. That’s compared to 8.2 women who died during pregnancy and birth in Canada, 6.1 in Britain, and only 2.4 in Iceland.

A woman giving birth in America is more than twice as likely to die as a woman in Saudi Arabia or China.

You might say international comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt because of difficulties of getting accurate measurements across nations. Maybe China hides the true extent of its maternal deaths. But Canada and Britain?

Even if you’re still skeptical, consider that our rate of maternal death is heading in the wrong direction. It’s risen over the past decade and is now nearly the highest in a quarter century.

In 1990, the maternal mortality rate in America was 12.4 women per 100,000 births. In 2003, it was 17.6. Now it’s 18.5.

That’s not a measurement error because we’ve been measuring the rate of maternal death in the United States the same way for decades.

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/14/robert_reich_right_wing_policies_are_literally_killing_women_partner/

[MANative]

1. And the saddest part of it all is that they really don't care that this is happening.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me that some of them actually prefer that people die. No sarcasm and no hyperbole.

[Stargazer99]

2. More likely it will be the poor that die because they do not have the funds for expert care

and at times I wonder if this is not what our "betters" are aiming for....without being obvious

[mountain grammy]

3. Yes they are, under the banner of "pro life."