Access to maternal health resources such as contraceptive care is a vital constituent for women’s well-being during pregnancy, giving birth, and postpartum. Even though contraceptive care, abortion specifically, is legal throughout the country’s states, people trying to obtain the procedure encounter various obstacles. Florida can serve as an example of a state where access to contraceptive care is limited, and a set of policies is established to control the process.
To be eligible to access maternal health resources, a person in Florida should meet several criteria and pass several procedures. For instance, in the state, private insurances primarily do not cover abortion. On the other hand, it is possible to buy a complementary abortion insurance rider. Under the Affordable Care Act, in accordance with the state’s health plan, abortion is covered only if rape or incest led to the pregnancy or the person’s life is endangered by childbirth (Guttmacher Institute, 2020). The Medicaid program “Today’s Woman” is active in Florida and facilitates women’s access to birth control, counseling, sterilization, et cetera (Guttmacher Institute, 2020). The state’s maternal mortality rate is considerable and is one of the worst in the country – it equals approximately twenty-four per one hundred thousand pregnancies; infant mortality is six death per one thousand live births (Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein, 2019). The numbers demonstrate that Florida’s approach to maternal health potentially needs to be reconsidered.
In conclusion, the state’s infant and maternal mortality rates accentuate the acute need for making high-quality maternal health care services more easily available. Abortion and birth control seem to be deciding factors influencing women’s and children’s health outcomes. Prioritizing the expansion of Medicaid and contraceptive care to people with lower income and the state’s counties with delayed health care progress could assist in improving Florida’s public health problem.
References
Guttmacher Institute. (2020). State facts about abortion: Florida. Web.
Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein. (2019). Florida’s maternal mortality rate among worst in the nation. DDRB. Web.