Opinion

As maternity wards close, Arizona mothers pay price

Because patients don’t get the best maternal care in the U.S., where it is treated as a financial asset, not as a public service, nonprofit hospitals are worth considering as solution

Eileen Appelbaum

Submitted photo/InsideSources

OPINION — Giving birth can be deadly. In 2024 in the United States, 17.9 women per 100,000 live births died during pregnancy or within 42 days after childbirth.

That is double or triple the number in other high-income countries, and much higher than in English-speaking peer countries Australia (3.5), Britain (5.5) and Canada (8.4).

More shamefully, the number of maternal deaths among Black women in America is a shockingly high 44.8 per 100,000 live births.

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