As available options for quality, urgent obstetric care in rural areas across America continue to shrink, U.S. Senator Katie Britt is taking part in a bipartisan effort to fight the troubling trend.
The Alabama lawmaker along with Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Tina Smith (D-Minn) reintroduced legislation on Tuesday ensuring that more isolated healthcare facilities, including those in the Yellowhammer State, have the resources available to provide the necessary level of care for women who are expecting or giving birth.
“Alabama women deserve access to high-quality care throughout their pregnancy journeys, no matter their zip code,” said Britt. “The Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act would equip rural hospitals with the tools, training, and resources to deliver urgent obstetric care throughout Alabama. I’m proud to join Senators Hassan, Collins, and Smith in introducing this critical, bipartisan legislation to support moms and families across our nation.”
The Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act would specifically help rural hospitals and doctors prepare for obstetric emergencies by creating training programs to help non-specialists respond to emergencies like labor and delivery, providing federal grants for rural facilities to buy better equipment to train for and handle these emergencies, and developing a pilot program for teleconsultation services so that a doctor at a rural facility helping an expecting or postpartum mother facing an emergency can quickly consult with maternal health care experts.
In Alabama, over a third of the state’s 67 counties are classified as “maternity care deserts,” areas without access to birthing facilities or maternity care providers. Almost 30% of women in Alabama currently have no birthing hospital within 30 minutes, exceedingly higher than the national average of under 10%.
In the fall of 2023, three Alabama hospitals announced closures of their labor and delivery departments, leaving both Shelby and Monroe counties without labor and delivery services. Last year, one of the last remaining birthing units in southern Alabama at Grove Hill Memorial Hospital closed. Alabama also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation at 38.6 deaths per 100,000 births.
Austen Shipley is the News Director for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten
