# 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:** 2
### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/21 "2017-01-17T19:39:26Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> That was then. This is now. They’re going to do it by defunding it. Effective Jan 30.
>
> [Cite](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/12/20/texas-kicks-planned-parenthood-out-medicaid/)
I thought there was something to that effect-thanks for the cite.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/22 "2017-01-17T19:52:24Z")
I’m sure Jesus is just beaming with pride over the lawmakers in Texas.
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/23 "2017-01-17T20:36:29Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> [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.
Echoing this - the stats are beyond alarming, but I’d exercise caution is assigning causality at this point. It could very well be attributable to bad data or changes in reporting data definitions. The rate for the US as a whole has risen back to 1969 levels after leveling off at an historic low in the early 80’s through the mid-90’s. As cited in this _[Time](http://time.com/4508369/why-u-s-women-still-die-during-childbirth/)_ article, there have been many changes since then, including increases in cesarean sections, higher obesity levels, women having children later and record keeping changes. As for Texas in specific, the article says:
> [@](#):
>
> Access is inconsistent: Between 2000 to 2015, Texas saw a spike in maternal mortality while the state also underwent changes to reproductive health services, including the closure of several clinics offering abortions and other services. In 2011, the state’s family planning budget was cut by two-thirds. Experts say the lack of access is probably not solely responsible for the state’s dramatic spike in deaths, but as The Texas Tribune reports, it may have exacerbated the issue. “I’ve done my best to try to investigate this as a data error and I can’t find any changes to account for it,” says MacDorman. “It’s very concerning what’s happening in Texas.”
Not helping is the fact that Texas won’t release the data behind the numbers, which seems stupid considering how damning the numbers are. You can’t fix what you can’t identify.
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/24 "2017-01-17T21:32:35Z")
Keep in mind that Texas has one of the largest illegal alien headcounts around. Those people are afraid to get medical care for fear that they will be arrested and deported. As a result, when they have issues, they pretty much wait until someone is really screwed up before they see a medic. I would imagine that the numbers are badly skewed for that reason.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/25 "2017-01-17T21:35:19Z")
> [@Clothahump](#):
>
> Keep in mind that Texas has one of the largest illegal alien headcounts around. Those people are afraid to get medical care for fear that they will be arrested and deported. As a result, when they have issues, they pretty much wait until someone is really screwed up before they see a medic. I would imagine that the numbers are badly skewed for that reason.
Imagine all you want-got anything to back it up, like stats that a high proportion of these deaths are from illegal aliens?
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/26 "2017-01-18T03:02:10Z")
> [@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.
Agreed. So raise a little hell. The world has shown you how to get media attention.
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### Author:  [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/27 "2017-01-19T02:41:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Not just in the North American continent.
> Not just in our hemisphere.
There’s a lot to be concerned about but those two aren’t supported by your cite. In fact they aren’t accurate. If you look at UNICEFf’s [page](http://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/#intro-content) on Maternal Mortality Rates Texas is still much better than the average for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dig down into the spreadsheet data at the bottom of the page and Mexico is also worse in 2014 at an MMR of 45 (although they have been improving with 2015 MMR of 38 that still trails Texas).
There’s plenty to be upset about. Factually inaccurate and hyberbolic comparisons distract from the real issue of significant movement the wrong way IMO.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2017, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/28 "2017-01-19T06:35:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Some experts point to health disparities and the higher rates of maternal deaths among black women in the U.S. But Declercq says the rate of white women in the U.S. who die during or just after a pregnancy is still higher than most industrialized countries.
>
> Could the high rate of C-sections in the U.S. be a factor? At 32 percent, the U.S. is roughly double the recommended rate from the World Health Organization. A woman who has a C-section is three times more likely to hemorrhage during childbirth than a woman who has a normal vaginal delivery.
> …
> The study says access to health insurance or health care may contribute to increased maternal mortality. Almost half of the counties in the U.S. do not have a practicing OB-GYN or midwife. Texas had the highest or nearly highest uninsured rate in the country during this period. Between 2010 and 2012, as Texas was closing some women’s health clinics, the mortality rate in that state doubled.
> …
> [While slashing funding for family planning clinics] … Texas’s health department drew fire for allocating $1.6m of the $18m the state budgets for low-income women’s family planning to an anti-abortion group that does not provide basic health services.
It’s not just Texas advancing in this category. The entire U.S. except California, has seen an increase in maternal mortality while other developed countries see declines. (\* To ensure statistical significance, stats are quoted only for the two large states and the 50 states as a whole.)
[Here’s the journal article.](https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2016/08/MacDormanM.USMatMort.OBGYN_.2016.online.pdf) They are planning a follow-on study to understand the sudden jump in Texas maternal mortality in 2011.
> [@carnut](#):
>
> Why the hell aren’t the women in Texas fighting back? Get vocal ladies!
More Texan women vote than men, but it’s mostly old women. The 65+ group votes at more than twice the rate of the 25-34 group, and at more than three times the rate of the 18-24 group.
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/29 "2017-01-19T13:10:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Imagine all you want-got anything to back it up, like stats that a high proportion of these deaths are from illegal aliens?
What part of “I would imagine” did you have trouble understanding? That was a statement of opinion, based on the fact that I live in the state and am aware of the problems that we have with illegals.
But while we are at it, let’s take it a step further. You’ve jumped on the liberal bandwagon about how evil Texas is because the state defunded Planned Parenthood, without even considering the fact that the maternal mortality rates increased nationwide. In addition, the rate is not as drastic as was made out by the scaremongering tactics employed.
> [@](#):
>
> Pro-abortion activists, hiding behind the (often undeserved) cloak of credibility provided by a peer-reviewed journal, made a concerted effort this week to mess with Texas. A recent study on increasing maternal mortality rates (MMR) in America made some blatantly dishonest claims about maternal deaths in the Lone Star state, concluding: “Adjusted maternal mortality rates for Texas show only a modest increase from 2000 to 2010, from a rate of 17.7 in 2000 to 18.6 in 2010. However, after 2010, the reported maternal mortality rate for Texas doubled within a 2-year period to levels not seen in other U.S. states.”
>
> Just. Lies.
>
> Apparently, the researchers did some adjusting of their own. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), maternal mortality rates have been alarmingly increasing for years. That “modest increase” lead researcher Marian MacDorman imagines, was a huge increase. In 2000, the MMR was 10.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (equating to 30 tragic deaths). By 2009, this rate had nearly tripled to 28.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (resulting in 116 deaths). That’s a “modest increase”? In 2010, the MMR actually decreased to 24.6.
Also
> [@](#):
>
> Not one of the 30 articles I read from mainstream media about Texas’ maternal mortality rates ever discussed the comprehensive Healthy Texas Women program. Originally launched as the Texas Women’s Health Program in January 2013, this initiative was borne out of the reallocation of monies from billion-dollar Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers and other real medical facilities statewide. The previous Medicaid program funded 300 facilities. The new HTW program funds 3,000. The Houston Chronicle’s unsurprisingly biased article includes a quote from Democrat Armondo Walle who laments that “something needs to be done to increase access to pregnant women” and that Texas is “letting federal dollars go to other states while these women are dying”. You’d think that one of Texas’ largest news organizations might mention the abortion-free HTW program which provides the full range of reproductive and general healthcare for low-income women and their families. So-called ‘progressives’ would rather perpetuate the whole lack of access myth instead of informing the public about expanded access.
>
> The only thing that has truly doubled is the effort by a propagandistic movement, and the media that enables it, to play the victim.
Entire text at [http://townhall.com/columnists/ryanbomberger/2016/08/26/the-truth-about-texas-maternal-mortality-rates-and-the-epic-defunding-of-planned-parenthood-n2210048](http://townhall.com/columnists/ryanbomberger/2016/08/26/the-truth-about-texas-maternal-mortality-rates-and-the-epic-defunding-of-planned-parenthood-n2210048)
[https://www.healthytexaswomen.org/](https://www.healthytexaswomen.org/)
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### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/30 "2017-01-19T16:52:30Z")
Congratulations Texas! You’re not nearly as bad as every other state in a country with appalling maternal death rates!
Kudos…I guess.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/31 "2018-05-08T16:12:44Z")
Update on terrible Texas:
It turns out that Texas did _not_ have a big spike in maternal deaths due to Planned Parenthood clinic closings, Medicaid spending limits or butthead Republicans in the state legislature. In fact, it didn’t have such a death spike at all - it was the result of goofs in coding/reporting maternal deaths.
\*"Of the 147 maternal deaths that were originally identified, state researchers determined only 47 were actually pregnancy-related.
They also examined medical records for female fatalities that were not included in the original number and identified nine additional deaths.
These results bring the state’s total maternal mortality rate for 2012 down from 38.4 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births to 14.6 maternal deaths. That’s lower than the national average, which is 15.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."\*
> **[Reported rise in Texas maternal mortality rate was due to inaccurate data,...](https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/health/2018/04/10/hike-texas-maternal-mortality-rate-due-inaccurate-data-lower-than-first-reported/500951002/)**
>
> A previously reported spike in the rate of maternal mortality in Texas was less extreme than initially believed, due to inaccurate data collection.
> **[Texas’s maternal mortality rate was unbelievably high. Now we know why.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/04/11/texas-maternal-mortality-rate-was-unbelievably-high-now-we-know-why/?utm_term=.9498f8fe346c)**
>
> Sloppy data collection methods may be at fault for doubling Texas's maternal mortality rate in 2012.
Much as Dopers love to take a good crap on Texas for largely political reasons (sometimes deservedly so), this was not an appropriate instance. A big helping of crow casserole is in order. 🙂
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### Author:  [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/32 "2018-05-08T17:20:28Z")
thanks for the update.
Given the hyper sensitive nature of what little discourse remains in this country, smart people need to be very careful to know the facts.
This helps.
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### Author:  [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/33 "2018-05-08T17:51:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> Imagine all you want-got anything to back it up, like stats that a high proportion of these deaths are from illegal aliens?
Since none of the stats are pointing at definitively the cause and effect why ask him for a cite and not one of the other posters who similarly and with great moral _outrage_ are jumping to different conclusions?
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/34 "2018-05-08T21:49:07Z")
> [@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?
I didn’t see this last year, but it’s not true - there’s a PP clinic not far from where I work and live, and it’s been there for longer than this thread has existed. I don’t know if their services include abortions.
By the way it’s at Hwy 75 and Plano Pkwy in Plano.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/35 "2018-05-08T21:56:20Z")
> [@CurtC](#):
>
> I didn’t see this last year, but it’s not true - there’s a PP clinic not far from where I work and live, and it’s been there for longer than this thread has existed. I don’t know if their services include abortions.
>
> By the way it’s at Hwy 75 and Plano Pkwy in Plano.
Appears that you’re right, although they all seem to be clustered in the big urban centers. West Texas is a huge blank space for clinics.
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### Author:  [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/36 "2018-05-08T21:56:57Z")
> [@CurtC](#):
>
> I didn’t see this last year, but it’s not true - there’s a PP clinic not far from where I work and live, and it’s been there for longer than this thread has existed.
Ditto one I pass on my daily commute off I-69/US-59 in Stafford (Houston area).
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### Author:  [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/37 "2018-05-08T22:11:36Z")
@ **Jackmannii**
Thanks for setting the record straight. 🙂
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### Author:  [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/38 "2018-05-08T22:13:51Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Appears that you’re right, although they all seem to be clustered in the big urban centers. West Texas is a huge blank space for clinics.
West Texas is a huge blank space for a lot of things. Except sand. They have a lot of sand.
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/39 "2018-05-08T23:28:08Z")
Hmm, but is this good news for Texas?
> [@Clothahump](#):
>
> Keep in mind that Texas has one of the largest illegal alien headcounts around. Those people are afraid to get medical care for fear that they will be arrested and deported. As a result, when they have issues, they pretty much wait until someone is really screwed up before they see a medic. I would imagine that the numbers are badly skewed for that reason.
> [@Clothahump](#):
>
> …That was a statement of opinion, based on the fact that I live in the state and am aware of the problems that we have with illegals…
There now seems no case to be made that Texas should fix the problem by building a wall to keep out the illegals who are skewing the stats.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2018, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-is-1/777338/40 "2018-05-09T11:48:15Z")
Texas remains #1 for executions, though, right?
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