A new report by The Commonwealth Fund says that women’s health and reproductive care in the United States is in a “dangerous place” and that disparities in these areas are growing.
They note that more women than ever are dying from preventable causes, and there are wide disparities in maternal mortality and deaths from breast and cervical cancer.
In addition, life expectancy for women is the lowest since 2006.
Their state-by-state analysis further highlights the effects of the Supreme Court’s historic decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, which made it increasingly difficult for women to get the reproductive health care they need.
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization also created a climate where contraception and in vitro fertilization (IVF) are at risk, the report said.
They also discuss the effects of post-pandemic state-level policies that have left millions of low-income women either without health insurance or with gaps in coverage.
Additionally, these losses in coverage have caused providers who serve these low-income women to close their offices.
The 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care, their first attempt to examine women’s health care in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, is part of an ongoing series of reports on how well state health systems are fulfilling their missions.
It uses 32 metrics to measure each state’s performance in health care availability and affordability, health care quality and prevention, and health outcomes. According to the report, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island are some of the top-performing states in terms of health care access, quality and outcomes.
The other top ten states, ranked from highest to lowest, were Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, District of Columbia, Minnesota, Hawaii and New York.
At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma ranked worst on these measures.
Other states in the bottom ten, from lowest to highest, were Nevada, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, Arizona, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Among the report’s notable findings is the fact that all-cause mortality among women of reproductive age is highest in southeastern states. At the high end of the spectrum was West Virginia, with an all-cause mortality rate of 203.6 per 100,000 population. The lowest was Hawaii at 70.5 per 100,000.
The highest maternal mortality rate was found in the Mississippi Delta region, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Vermont, California and Connecticut had the lowest death rates.
Another significant finding was that deaths from breast and cervical cancer, preventable with proper screening and health care, were highest in the southern states.
The report’s authors noted that northeastern states generally have higher screening rates and the lowest death rates, while southern states have lower screening rates and higher death rates.
