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.

[PJMcK]

1. That's some state, Alabama

Profoundly backwards.

[peppertree]

12. It'll be back to 19th-century style midwife births in most red states before long

Except, of course, for women of means - so as far as Republicans are concerned, what's the problem?

[Think. Again.]

2. Why did anyone think...

...that providing medical care should be a business?

[CousinIT]

3. No abortion, no contraception, no ob-gyn or maternity care. Zero help. No nothing.

"pro-life".

Female humans are just livestock in this country.

[ALBliberal]

4. Cruelty is the point. Was it Rachel Maddow that coined that phrase?

[CincyDem]

5. Wrong.

I’ll bet a calfing horse or cow gets better treatment in these counties.

[keithbvadu2]

7. Madison Cawthorn publicly referred to women as "Earthen vessels, sanctified by Almighty God"

Madison Cawthorn publicly referred to women as "Earthen vessels, sanctified by Almighty God"

https://democraticunderground.com/100216110827

You know::::: property

[Irish_Dem]

8. US livestock gets better care.

Female humans no longer even get that level of care.

[modrepub]

6. Elections Have Consequences

More media coverage of these fiascos would be nice. Put a microphone in front of the politicians bringing this and see how fast they run away. I also wonder where these politician's families receive their care if they or someone in their family is expecting.

[lastlib]

9. "Alabama--the perineum of America"

Jeezus Henry Christ, what a backward state! Its politicians are part of the reason we can't have nice things in government. And healthcare for women.

(Lookin' at you, Tom Potato. Among others....)

[Grokenstein]

11. If 'bama is the taint, and Flaw'duh is the wang, then Texas must be...

Yes, that tracks.

[Grins]

10. What you get when you vote Republican. NM

[Old Crank]

13. Two forces meeting

Bad for the health of people.
First the ridiculous antiabortion laws that are scaring doctors out of OBGyn and or out of the state.
Second Hospitals as profit centers. Maternity care loses money? Close it. Plastic surgery makes money?Expand it.

[niyad]

14. and the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace.