Oral

The United States ranks at or near the bottom on infant, neonatal and maternal mortality and is behind only Italy and Portugal in proportion of cesarean births. These differences are not explained by the distribution of maternity care providers in those countries. This session will review these trends as well as current legal issues which may be contributing to these poor outcomes including anti-abortion rhetoric, deprivations of liberty of pregnant women carrying to term, and maternity care limitations resulting from midwifery licensure. The need for a new civil rights statute to codify the rights of child bearing women to improve perinatal justice as well as the need for increased transparency in maternity health care through such avenues as The Birth Survey will be discussed.

Session Objectives: 1. Describe how current laws regarding abortion, birth, and midwifery fall short of protecting the rights of pregnant women. 2. Explain why transparency in health care and specifically maternity care is needed. 3. Compare recent U.S. trends in infant and maternal mortality as well as distribution of maternity care providers to other industrialized countries.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)