Killing Babies
That the United States ties with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with the second worst infant mortality rate of the industrialized nations at 5 deaths per 1000 births is terrible.
That Oklahoma’s infant mortality rate is worse, much worse at 7.8 deaths per 1,000 births, is a disgrace.
If one breaks down Oklahoma’s disgraceful rate even further the picture grows even more dismal.
The infant mortality rate for pregnant white women in Oklahoma is 7.3 deaths per 1,000 births, while for black women in Oklahoma, it’s 14.9 deaths per 1,000 births. That’s right, the death rate for babies born to black women in Oklahoma is over twice the death rate for babies born to white women.
Health professionals attribute our state’s disgraceful infant mortality rate to several factors, including the fact that about half of all pregnancies in Oklahoma are not planned. Other factors include labor-and-delivery complications, sudden infant death syndrome and newborns affected by “maternal factors” all of which cause newborn deaths. Maternal factors include pregnant women physically and mentally abused by husbands and boyfriends, and alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy.
Dr. Edd Rhoades, state Health Department deputy commissioner for family health also attributes part of this state’s infant mortality rate to lack of prenatal care. He points out that often, a woman’s only prenatal care comes when she arrives at a hospital emergency room to give birth.
There is no simple, cheap or easy solutions to Oklahoma’s infant mortality rate. It is obvious that we as a state are grossly failing to provide adequate prenatal care and counseling for expectant mothers or education for women wishing to avoid pregnancy and this especially in the case of black women who experience an infant mortality rate similar to that of many ‘third world’ nations.
Oklahomans are by in large in favor of the right to life for unborn children. Isn’t it about time that we decided to be equally supportative of the right to life of those that are born?
