Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order Wednesday to combat maternal mortality. In a crowded room filled with women and babies, Sanders said the issue is “deeply personal” for her as a mother of three.
“Healthier moms means healthier babies,” she said.
Arkansas has one of the country's highest rates of maternal deaths, meaning when a person dies within one year of giving birth. The Arkansas Department of Health estimates that there are about 35 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in Arkansas.
The problem is most of these deaths, the department estimates 92%, are preventable. Some of the leading causes of death are infection, hemorrhage, and hypertension, things that a medical professional could treat. Many patients do not visit a doctor after giving birth, increasing their chances of death.
“Of the 35,000 pregnancies each year, 10,000 women wait until after their first trimester to even see a doctor,” Sanders said. “1,100 women never see a doctor until they are in labor."
The Arkansas Department of Health authored a report last December examining 100 pregnancy-associated deaths that occurred from 2018 to 2020. The report showed that Black and Hispanic women are 2.3 times more likely to die after giving birth, as were women who did not achieve an education past high school.
The report recommends pregnant people take advantage of state resources and for doctors to follow up with patients after birth.
The governor says the issue is an “education problem” and not a “coverage problem.” she said expanding Medicaid for mothers would be “redundant,” instead she wanted to raise awareness of the resources that already exist.
New laws passed in the last legislative session increased access to maternal healthcare in Arkansas. One required Medicaid to cover mental health screenings for women after pregnancy. Now, newborns have to be screened for certain rare health conditions. During former Gov. Asa Hutchinson's term, he worked to expand Medicaid for expectant mothers in Arkansas.
Republican Rep. Aaron Pilkington sponsored a bill to expand Medicaid services to women for one year postpartum, but the bill ultimately did not pass.
Medicaid funds cover over 15,000 or 40% of births a year, about the same amount that is covered nationally. The governor's plans involve automatically enrolling more women in Medicaid who are pregnant and eligible, along with improving education and healthcare access statewide.
“We are pro-life, we are pro-woman, we are pro-mom,” she said.
The executive order will create a pilot program targeting five counties with the lowest rates of maternal care. It plans to create a maternal health advertising campaign and try to find strategies to increase post-natal doctor visits. Several state agencies plan to work together to develop a “statewide strategic plan.”
