Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy: Our Maternal Death Rates Are Only Bad If You Count Black Women

As conservatives across the country wage wars over reproductive rights, demanding legislation that forces women to carry a full-term pregnancy, regardless of the circumstances, they often (always rant) forget that they did absolutely nothing to support these people during said time. pregnant or later. Mississippi, for example, where abortion would immediately become illegal if Roe v. Wade upside down, has the highest rate of child poverty in the country and recently declined a proposal to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage. And in Louisiana, where a similar activation law will go into effect later Roe is being reversed, the maternal mortality rate is among the lowest in the country. But according to senator GOP Bill Cassidy, the percentage of women who die during pregnancy or shortly after isn’t so bad – if you subtract the number of black women who die, it doesn’t seem to count.

In an interview with Politico, the following words came out of Cassidy’s mouth: “About a third of our population is African-American; African Americans have a higher maternal mortality rate. So if you adjusted our population for race, we wouldn’t be as disparate as it often appears. Now, I say not to minimize the problem but to focus the problem where it is. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher maternal mortality rate.”

There’s a lot to unpack here. Let’s start with the idea that Cassidy – who wants to sabotage all Planned Parenthood, Yes, on the surface, our maternal mortality rate is very high, but if you count only white women, they are not that bad! Then there’s the phrase “for whatever reason.” In fact, there’s a reason the Louisiana lawmaker seems to want to ignore. “It’s no mystery why the maternal mortality rate among Black women is so high,” Michelle Williams, Dean of Harvard’s School of Public Health speak to respond. “They are high due to the devastating effects of structural racism and individual bias.” As Politico notes, black mothers are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white mothers in the US, which has the worst mortality rate of any country. developed countries and where “for every 100,000 pregnancies in this country, 17 mothers die”. In Louisiana, black mothers are four times more likely to die than white mothers.

Asked how Roe v. Wade Cassidy dismisses this question. “If we’re using abortion to limit maternal mortality, that’s an odd approach to the problem,” he said. That, of course, is complete bullshit. As NBC News reported earlier this month, “Research shows that bans and restrictions will have tangible effects on maternal health. First, if many pregnant people are unable to have an abortion the way they seek an abortion, they risk the relatively high — and growing — mortality rate in the United States from all causes. pregnancy-related causes, especially in people of color. ” As Amy Addante, MD, an ob-gyn in Illinois, puts it bluntly: “There are going to be women who die from pregnancy because of this decision, this period.”

And in other women’s news, via HuffPost:

Donald TrumpMichigan’s choice of a Senate seat promises to ban all birth control if she gets the chance. “I guess we have to ask ourselves, will that ever come to a vote in the Michigan legislature? And if it happens, I’ll have to side with it’s not legal, “Republican Jacky Eubanks said in a recent interview with Church Militant. “People believe that contraception — better, like you said, because then you won’t get pregnant and you won’t need to have an abortion,” she added. “But I think that gives people a false sense of security that they can have sex without consequences, and that’s not true and that’s not correct. Sex must be between a man and a woman within the bounds of marriage. “

While Eubanks’ comments are completely unsettling, she’s far from the only Republican to suggest they want to see birth control banned. In March, Senator Marsha Blackburn summon Griswolds v. Connecticut– a 1965 ruling that overturns the state’s ban on contraceptives – is “unconstitutional”, while Idaho plans to hold a hearing to ban emergency contraceptives and both IUDs possible contraception. Others have stated that anyone worried about the birth control ban (or same-sex marriage, or interracial marriage) is going to go hysterical — which, incidentally, is what many people do. talk about the perspective of Roe overturned.