Critical Response on “If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die?” By Nicholas Kristoff

Critical Response on “If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die?” By Nicholas Kristoff

The source of the article, If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die? Is the New York Times and its author is Nicholas Kristoff. In the article, Kristoff is of the opinion that despite the economic advancement of the United States, the country has not done a lot to prevent maternal mortality. According to Kristoff, the United States has failed to control maternal mortality, saving lives in childbirth is often complicated, and almost half of the pregnancies in America are unintended.

Kristoff singles out the situation in the Texas State where he acknowledges that the rate at which women die from pregnancy is very high as compared to other developed countries. To prove his statement, Kristoff makes some comparisons with other developed countries. For instance, Kristoff states that a pregnant woman in Texas is about 10 times likely to die as compared to a pregnant woman in Spain or Sweden. In addition, the healthcare plans proposed by the Republicans are likely to worsen the status of maternal health in the United States. Certain factors have resulted in the high mortality rate, and they include the closure of some women health clinics and difficulties in accessing Medicaid.

Pregnancy requires regular testing in order to improve the health condition of the pregnant woman and the unborn child, but the closure of the women health clinics means that some women may experience birth problems.

Kristoff also states that saving lives in childbirth is complicated, and the truth of this argument can be attributed to the fact that women health clinics where women should have prenatal tests have been shut down. Kristoff states that “One factor is that Texas politicians, on a rampage against Planned Parenthood, have in effect closed a number of women health clinics,” and this has made more than a third of the pregnant women in Texas not to have a single prenatal test within the first three months of their pregnancy. Consequently, such women may experience difficulties during birth. Kristoff also supports the argument on the closure of women clinics with the increased cases of abortion, although in this the author does not provide sufficient evidence to convince the readers that there is a direct relationship between the closure of clinics and the increased rate of abortion.

Kristoff is also of the opinion that almost half of the American pregnancies are unintended, and he lays claim to the society for not being responsible and for failing to assist women and girls access the long-acting reversible contraceptives. Contraceptives will help minimize early pregnancies among teenagers. While sharing with Kristoff, Dr. Hollier, the president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, stated that the community should help women and girls avoid pregnancies they don’t want. Dr. Hollier noted that “You can’t die from pregnancy when you are not pregnant,” and despite this acknowledgement, some revelations from some of the patients bring out the point of ignorance. For instance, Harris, when asked whether she used birth control, she stated that she sometimes used condoms. Monica, on the other hand, revealed that she thought she would not get pregnant.

The statement by Kristoff that the United States has failed in maternal healthcare may not be convincing to many readers because, at one point, he has given the case of California, a state in the United States. The state of California has done pretty well in minimizing maternal deaths. Also, the Obamacare initiative by President Obama of the United States helped to reduce maternal mortality through the expansion of the insurance coverage and providing free access of contraceptives to help reduce unwanted pregnancies. The above examples show that the United States has not totally failed in maternal healthcare.

In conclusion, the United States government should learn from the state of California in order to improve the state of maternal healthcare. Additionally, the government should learn from the Obamacare initiative to improve the maternal conditions of the pregnant women. However, the slashing of the 213 million US Dollars by Trump’s administration in funding for the prevention program for teenage pregnancy may be a disadvantage to pregnant teenagers. As long as the government tries to improve maternal health, the citizens should also make it a personal initiative to use contraceptives to avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Work Cited

Nicholas Kristoff. Opinion/ If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die? The New York Times. July 2017.