Pro-life Texas Legislature declines to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers

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AUSTIN — The new mothers contracted infections. They overdosed on drugs. Their hearts failed. They committed suicide.

The women died in different ways, but all perished within a year of giving birth. Rising rates of maternal mortality spurred Texas leaders in 2017 to reauthorize a special task force to study the deaths and figure out what to do.

But at the end of this year’s legislative session, public health advocates are frustrated that lawmakers left Austin without adopting the task force’s top recommendation: giving women access to health care for a full year after they give birth.

The Legislature agreed to spend $15 million over the next two years on postpartum depression and substance abuse treatment for some low-income women. But a far more sweeping and higher cost plan to expand Medicaid coverage for all eligible new mothers failed, despite having support from Republicans and Democrats.

Houston Chronicle

[Progressive Pessimist]

You forgot to put twenty quotation marks around "pro-life."

""""""""""Pro-life""""""""""

[Indy Texas]

They also won't admit that while a woman can apply for Medicaid once she learns she is pregnant, by that point, it is too late to intervene in health problems that can result in adverse consequences for her and/or her baby.

A lot of poor woman have untreated conditions like diabetes, hypertension and circulatory system problems, or are obese. Once they're pregnant, there is very little time to stabilize those conditions and as a result the fetus is developing in a really unhealthy biological environment. The risk of complications during and after birth also goes off the charts.