# Texas is #1!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 16, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338 "2017-01-16T20:40:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/1 "2017-01-16T20:40:40Z")
[…In maternal mortality rates, that is.](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/20/texas-maternal-mortality-rate-health-clinics-funding)
Not just in the U.S.
Not just in the North American continent.
Not just in our hemisphere.
_Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world_, and they managed to achieve this without war, disease or famine.
> [@](#):
>
> The rate of Texas women who died from complications related to pregnancy doubled from 2010 to 2014, a new study has found, for an estimated maternal mortality rate that is unmatched in any other state and the rest of the developed world.
---
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/2 "2017-01-16T22:11:56Z")
Well, Texas got exactly what it wanted: A _de facto_ stranglehold on supposedly legal abortion rights, and divine judgement on all those wicked wimmin.
---
### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/3 "2017-01-16T22:20:16Z")
This is downright terrible.
---
### Author:  [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/4 "2017-01-16T22:23:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Well, Texas got exactly what it wanted: A _de facto_ stranglehold on supposedly legal abortion rights, and divine judgement on all those wicked wimmin.
They didn’t expand Medicaid, either, so no doubt they got some of those evil POOR women, too.
☹
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/5 "2017-01-16T22:24:39Z")
They also closed ALL Planned Parenthood clinics, even if they didn’t provide abortions. Right: why would you want there to be contraception and prenatal care?
---
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/6 "2017-01-16T22:28:01Z")
Thank you, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, you motherfuckers.
This is one of the things that makes me embarrassed to be a Texan.
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/7 "2017-01-17T03:18:55Z")
I’m wondering what the hell they expected to happen? It’s like they don’t believe in simple cause and effect.
---
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/8 "2017-01-17T03:25:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Thank you, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, you motherfuckers.
>
> This is one of the things that makes me embarrassed to be a Texan.
Probably more like Dewhurst and Patrick. Governors have very little power to actually enact much of anything; they can veto, but that’s about it. The Lieutenant Governors are the more powerful politicians.
---
### Author:  [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/9 "2017-01-17T03:42:30Z")
Do we have any nurses or Dr.s that practice in Texas on this board?
---
### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/10 "2017-01-17T03:47:09Z")
Why the hell aren’t the women in Texas fighting back? Get vocal ladies! Fight for your rights instead of shutting up and bearing it all. You hold up half that big Texas sky and you can fight for your rights. Yyou CAN walk away to another state where things are better for you. The ball is in your court.
---
### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/11 "2017-01-17T03:48:24Z")
That is seriously fucked.
:mad:
---
### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/12 "2017-01-17T03:55:23Z")
> [@carnut](#):
>
> Why the hell aren’t the women in Texas fighting back? Get vocal ladies! Fight for your rights instead of shutting up and bearing it all. You hold up half that big Texas sky and you can fight for your rights. Yyou CAN walk away to another state where things are better for you. The ball is in your court.
I almost feel like this should come down to negligent homicide or something of that sort.
---
### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/13 "2017-01-17T04:02:33Z")
> [@carnut](#):
>
> Yyou CAN walk away to another state where things are better for you. The ball is in your court.
I don’t know about most women in Texas or any other part of the world, but it isn’t exactly easy to uproot and move to another place. If women are partnered and/or with kids, the decision to move to another state is really bloody difficult, not to mention the actual cost of moving itself.
---
### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/14 "2017-01-17T04:17:18Z")
> [@kambuckta](#):
>
> I don’t know about most women in Texas or any other part of the world, but it isn’t exactly easy to uproot and move to another place. If women are partnered and/or with kids, the decision to move to another state is really bloody difficult, not to mention the actual cost of moving itself.
It also seems fairly likely that most of the women who died in this way are younger and without means. I wouldn’t be surprised if a reasonably large percentage of the women were under 18.
---
### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/15 "2017-01-17T04:26:56Z")
here is a chart of the rate by countries:
> **[Maternal mortality rate - Country Comparison](https://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=2223)**
>
> List of countries ranked by Maternal mortality rate.
Texas would rank worst than Albania, Uzbekistan, Fiji and Oman.
---
### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/16 "2017-01-17T04:35:39Z")
> [@carnut](#):
>
> Why the hell aren’t the women in Texas fighting back? Get vocal ladies!
You don’t remember what happened in Texas in 2014?
Anyway, the legislature got it’s way anyway with a law that would have forced all the clinics to close. It took two years for a case to work it’s way to the Supreme Court, which finally overturned that law.
These things don’t happen overnight, (though many Americans childishly think they do, and believe bloviating politicians who promise to do this and that immediately with a wave of their magic wand).
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/17 "2017-01-17T04:39:50Z")
[From the CDC](http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pmss.html):
_“The reasons for the overall increase in pregnancy-related mortality (in the U.S.) are unclear. The use of computerized data linkages by the states, changes in the way causes of death are coded, and the addition of a pregnancy checkbox to the death certificate in many states have likely improved identification of pregnancy-related deaths over time. Whether the actual risk of a woman dying from pregnancy-related causes has increased is unclear.”_
So how much of Texas’ increase in maternal deaths is due to better reporting (if that factor applies), and how much is due to other reasons?
Reducing services to pregnant women can’t be helping.
---
### Author:  [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/18 "2017-01-17T13:16:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> They also closed ALL Planned Parenthood clinics, even if they didn’t provide abortions. Right: why would you want there to be contraception and prenatal care?
This isn’t correct.
Here are the PP locations in TX: [Health Centers - Texas - Planned Parenthood](https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/TX)
From the linked article:
> [@](#):
>
> At the same time, Texas eliminated all Planned Parenthood clinics – whether or not they provided abortion services – from the state program that provides poor women with preventive healthcare. Previously, Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas offered cancer screenings and contraception to more than 130,000 women.
>
> In 2013, Texas restored funding for the family planning budget to original levels. But the healthcare providers who survived the initial cuts reported struggles to restore services to their original levels.
---
### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/19 "2017-01-17T14:23:01Z")
Everything is bigger in Texasistan.
---
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/20 "2017-01-17T14:45:11Z")
> [@Turek](#):
>
> This isn’t correct.
>
> Here are the PP locations in TX: [https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/TX](https://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-center/TX)
>
> From the linked article:
That was then. This is now. They’re going to do it by defunding it. Effective Jan 30.
> [@](#):
>
> DEC 20, 2016
>
> After more than a year of delays, Texas is officially kicking Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid program.
>
> In a move that could affect thousands of low-income women, state health officials on Tuesday delivered a final legal notice to defund the organization from the Medicaid program through which it provides family planning and women’s health services to the poor. Planned Parenthood had previously received $3.1 million in Medicaid funding, but those dollars will be nixed in 30 days, according to the notice which was obtained by The Texas Tribune.
>
> That cut-off day will only be delayed if the organization appeals the state’s decision in the next 15 days by requesting an administrative hearing with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. But Planned Parenthood officials say they will instead turn to the courts to block the cuts.
>
> “Planned Parenthood continues to serve Medicaid patients and will seek a preliminary injunction in an ongoing lawsuit filed in November 2015, following the state’s original threats to take action against Planned Parenthood’s patients,” said Yvonne Gutierrez, executive director of Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, the organization’s political arm.
>
> The battle over the funding Planned Parenthood received for those health services — which are separate from its abortion services that receive no public funds — began in October 2015 when Gov. Greg Abbott and state health officials first moved to cut off Medicaid funding, about 90 percent of which comes from the federal government, to the organization’s Texas affiliates…
[Cite](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/12/20/texas-kicks-planned-parenthood-out-medicaid/)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338.md?page=2)