Amnesty International issued a report last week that shows that in the United States deaths from pregnancy and childbirth have doubled in the past 20 years. The report also showed that one-third of pregnant women in the US suffer from pregnancy-related complications.
In the report, Amnesty International states that most of the pregnancy related deaths and complications are among women who are living in poverty. Their report also states that inner cities and rural areas face a shortage of qualified health care professionals which elevates the concern for providing timely care to pregnant women.
The report is called "Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA. What's shocking is that the report states that the risk of maternal deaths is greater in the United States than in 40 other countries and that since 1988, pregnancy-related complications have increased by 25%.
According to a study conducted by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2007, it was found that 40% of such complications were preventable with better prenatal care. Amnesty International's report showed that "minorities, women living in poverty, Native Americans, immigrants and those who speak little or no English" are at highest risk for pregnancy complications.
Another shocking statistic is from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta which showed that for African-American women there is a mortality rate of 32.7 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies whereas Caucasian women have a mortality rate of only 9.5 per 100,000 pregnancies.
