Pregnant women can't find doctors in growing maternity care deserts
Over a third of counties are maternity care deserts without a single doctor, nurse, midwife or medical center specializing in maternity care according to March of Dimes.
The number of pregnant women forced to travel farther to deliver their babies — or go without prenatal care entirely — is growing.
A March of Dimes report published Tuesday found that over a third of U.S. counties (35.1%) are what the group calls “maternity care deserts,” meaning they don't have a single doctor, nurse, midwife or medical center specializing in maternity care.
More than 2.3 million women of childbearing age lived in one of these counties in 2022, when the data was collected for the new report, up from 2.2 million in 2020.
The number of babies born in these counties also rose, from 146,000 to more than 150,000.
“It’s getting worse over time,” said Ashley Stoneburner, lead report author and director of applied research and analytics at the March of Dimes.
Rating: 5