As a Texas city debates an abortion "travel ban," maternal care is scarce in nearby rural counties
BY JAYME LOZANO CARVER
JUNE 14, 2024
AMARILLO — Texas’ urban cities can offer women a luxe birthing suite, equipped with high-tech monitoring for mom and the baby, spacious rooms and a full team to handle any emergency.
That isn’t the case in the Panhandle, where just eight hospitals are scattered in the 26,000 square mile region. Instead of high-tech monitoring, women are hooked up to the most basic medical equipment in a cramped and outdated room. There is no emergency team in the face of risks or complications, except in Amarillo.
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Texas women face countless challenges to their reproductive health. And in a state with the highest numbers of maternal deaths in the nation, women in rural areas fare worse. Maternal access is stretched thin in the Texas Panhandle — only eight hospitals, including those in Amarillo, have labor and delivery services for the upper 26 counties. And, it’s a national issue. The Commonwealth Fund’s research shows nearly 7 million women in the U.S. live in counties without hospitals or birth centers.
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According to the Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, 28 rural Texas hospitals have closed since 2010, the most in the nation. This leaves underserved communities vulnerable, as any need for medical care could turn into a long drive.
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Pardon me Abbott, Patrick, Paxton but your hypocrisy is showing. Pro life, huh?
Soooo concerned about women’s health, huh?
Abbott is spending or has spent nearly $11 billion dollars on a photo op on the border.
Welcome to crazy town.
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