Senator Britt’s bill would support rural maternity care: “Alabama women deserve access”

American senator Katie Britt has reintroduced a bill to improve obstetric care in rural communities, as part of a bipartite effort to combat a growing crisis.

The law on preparation for rural obstetrics would create programs for:

• Help non-specialists respond to emergencies such as work and delivery
• Offer federal subsidies to rural facilities to buy better equipment to train and manage these emergencies
• Develop a pilot remote charter program so that a doctor in a rural establishment can quickly consult maternal health care experts

“Alabama women deserve access to high quality care throughout their pregnancy trips, regardless of their postal code. The Rural Obsetrics Readiness Act would endow the rural hospitals with tools, training and resources to provide urgent obstetric care throughout Alabama, “said Britt, Junior Senator of Alabama, in a press release.

More than a third of the counties of Alabama are classified as “deserts of maternity care”, according to a 2023 report by March of the ten sous. This means that women in 23 of the 67 counties in Alabama do not have access to delivery centers or maternity care providers.

On average, Alabama women had to travel around 18 miles to the nearest hospital to give birth, according to the report.

The state has also lost almost a quarter of its birth hospitals in recent years. In the fall of 2023, Three Alabama hospitals have announced closures of their labor and delivery services, leaving the counties of Shelby and Monroe without work of labor and delivery. Last year, one of the last birth units remaining in southern Alabama in Grove Hill Memorial Hospital closed.

Lack of access to maternal health care in the state has had devastating impacts for mothers and their children.

Alabama has one of the country’s highest maternal mortality rates with 38.6 deaths per 100,000 births. The national average is 22.3 per 100,000. In 2023, Alabama The infant mortality rate has reached the highest it has been since 2016.

Almost 58,000 babies born last year, 449 did not reach 1 yearAccording to the Alabama Ministry of Public Health. It is a rate of 7.8 deaths for 1,000 births and a large peak of 2022.

State Health Manager Scott Harris said in response to the infant mortality rate that “a possible reason is limited access to prenatal care and the proximity of hospitals to the place where these mothers live”.

According to his Senate office, Britt previously helped obtain funding for rural hospitals, including $ 2.6 million for Helen Keller Hospital to replace generators, $ 3.9 million for the City of Talladega to support rural emergency services, $ 2 million for medical equipment at Atmore Community Hospital and 2.5 million dollars for the Huntsville Hospital health system to buy additional ambulances to serve the counties of the counties North of Alabama.

Britt sponsors the act of preparation for rural obstetrics alongside Maggie Hassan (DN.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tina Smith (D-minn.). The legislation was Introduced for the first time in April 2024 But he did not receive a vote and did not win little ground after being referred to a senatorial committee.

Britt said in a statement that the bill is “critical and bipartite legislation to support mothers and families across our country”.