Thursday, August 9, 2012

Stigmatizing Teen Mothers is Dangerous

Here are some telling excerpts on teen pregnancy that I ran across today:

From a 1985 study of teenaged mothers in the 1970s (still widely cited on the internet) by Carolyn Makinson called The health consequences of teenage fertility: "Research indicates that pregnant teens are less likely to receive prenatal care, often seeking it in the third trimester, if at all."

Similarly, The Guttmacher Institute reports that "One-third of pregnant teens receive insufficient prenatal care and that their children are more likely to suffer from health issues in childhood or be hospitalized than those born to older women."

Neither of these statements is untrue, and neither should be very unfamiliar to Americans who attended public school in the past two decades--or who have been on sites such as Stayteen.org, or watched MTV's 16 and Pregnant. Both statements should make you pause, and think twice.
But the excerpt that I found the most telling, the most eloquent summation of why shaming young mothers is bad practice, and medically unwise comes from a much more recent (2006) study:

"Young mothers who are given high-quality maternity care have significantly healthier babies than those that do not. Many of the health-issues associated with teenage mothers, many of whom do not have health insurance, appear to result from lack of access to high-quality medical care,”

44 simple words.

For decades, the approach towards teen pregnancy in America has been that is undesirable, across the board, no exceptions. That it is dangerous for the mother and the child—low birth weight, prematurity, anemia, lower IQs, higher rates of abuse and neglect. That there are no good teen mothers, or teen fathers.
It’s an interesting observation.
And it’s pinned on the wrong cause.
I’d argue, along with a growing number of other people, that teen pregnancy is a symptom along with those other indicators, rather than a cause of them. The root of the issue is found in socioeconomic factors, in racial indicators, in immigrant status, in educational attainment level. If you compare older mothers with similar characteristics—lower levels of education, low socioeconomic status, immigrants to this country whose English is limited, you find a similar trend: babies and mothers aren’t as healthy. Women who’s access to medical care is limited—whether it is because they cannot afford insurance, do not know where to go for care, cannot speak the language to explain themselves, or simply live in an area where care is not adequately provided (in rural areas, or greatly taxed inner-city systems)—suffer.
Teen mothers, and young mothers, often face many of these same obstacles, with the added pressure of insensitive, heavy-handed campaigns.
The daily news site Colorlines, says this about these campaigns:
“A controversial ad series that the National Campaign ran in 2001 is an apt example. The group published print advertisements with photos of young people with one word across their chests. The most shocking of the series were the two with young women of color, one with the word “DIRTY” and the other with the word “CHEAP.” The words were part of sentences that ran along the spine of the ad in smaller words, which upon closer inspection focused on changing dirty diapers and the cost of condoms, respectively. But the main message was clear: being teen parents meant something about who these girls were, something decidedly negative.”
This series of ads, like so many others, presents young mothers, and to a much lesser extent, young fathers, as being inherently the problem. Being a young mother myself—becoming pregnant at 20, as a junior in college—I can personally attest how much this can get under the skin of young parents, increasing their unwillingness to seek help, medical or otherwise, when they know it will result in harsh judgment, stares, and stinging remarks—even from trusted advisors, doctors, and friends. I hid my pregnancy for as long as I was able, and while I sought out medical care, and took care of myself and my baby, I can understand why other women in a similar situation would not—or could not. Shunning by family, friends, and communities, losing the roof over their heads, having doctors treat them as insignificant—all these are very real possibilities a young parent faces.
And this puts them at risk.  It puts their children at risk.
A good number of the dolls in the I, MOM exhibit represent young women who died in 2012.


That said, organizations like Albuquerque’s Young Women United and the campaign they spear-headed, Youn Parents Day, are a sign of the changing tide. And, might I say, more power to them and the women and families they educate, and the lives they can improve, and save.


If you're a young parent, or your life has been touched by one in a positive way, please join the campaign. Take a photo of yourself holding a sign that proclaims "Young Parents Deserve Recognition," and tag Young Women United to it on Facebook in solidarity for Young Parents Day on August 25, 2012!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

This Labor Day, Let's Labor For Change




Thank you, Mothering.com  for the heads up about this fantastic event (don't you just love Facebook updates from them? I know I do!)


From the Mothering.com website, a call for action!

"We need women, men and children to come stand in support of evidence based maternity care for everyone on September 3, 2012. The Rally will be held in locations all over the country--find your state/city here!!"



The National Rally for Change is to encourage and insist that all maternal healthcare providers practice evidence based care--so what exactly does that mean? It means, simply, that we expect our doctors, our obstetricians, our midwives and all other medical personal to apply the best available evidence gained from the scientific method to clinical decision making, assessing the strength of the evidence of risks and benefits of treatments (including lack of treatment) and diagnostic tests. This helps clinicians understand whether or not a treatment will do more good than harm. Sounds like a logical desire on our part, right? The problem is, on average it takes 20 years for proven research to become practice.
For the sake of mothers and babies everywhere, we can’t wait 20 years.

This matters for all people. Maternal health care affects not only mothers, and their unborn children, but their already-born children, their partners, their whole families. It affects our communities, by killing women before their time, by maiming others. It affects our whole national psyche.

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Ghandi

I will be the last to say that women are the weakest members of society. We are strong. We expect humane treatment, for ourselves and for our families. We know how to right a wrong. But too many women’s voices are being lost.

Too many women are being pressured, bullied, uninformed, and paying too, too great a price.

This is not a protest, but a public outreach.




I will be standing for the rights of women, with my daughter, in Phoenix on September 3rd 2012.

Where will you be?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Save the Children: The State of the World's Mothers

Save the Children's 2012 report, The State of the World's Mothers, was released this month, and the U.S.A. has moved up a few spots, landing at 25 out of 165 countries!

The move, however, was  attributed to "improvements across education indicators," and not improvements specifically regarding maternal and child health and well-being. Every little bit counts!

The slightly more fightening statistic, though, was lifetime risk of maternal death--the chances that a girl of 15 will, at some time in her life, die of childbirth related causes in the United States. From the report:

"In the United States, mothers face a 1 in 2,100 risk of maternal death – the highest of any industrialized nation."


Allow me to break that down for you, using the National Security Council's lovely infographic, the Odds of Dying:

In the United States, you are 3 times more likely to die from a baby, than from a gun (Fire arms discharge, lifetime risk-- 1 in 6,609), and 3.5 times more likely to die from a baby than from plane crashes (Air and Space transport incidents, lifetime risk--1 in 7,178). You are 69 times more likely to die from a baby, than from a dog attack (Bitten/struck by dog, lifetime risk--1 in 144,899).


Here's an easy way to help spread the word about the sorry state of the United States' maternal healthcare system:

Ask your friends the next time you see them. How many of them are scared of guns? How about flying on an airplane--this particular fear ranks 9th according to About.com's list of phobias and fears (dogs ranked 5th).



Then put their fears in perspective.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

In Memory of: Alice Hansen

One of the blogs I (Anna) follow in my private life is a brilliant crafting blog from my hometown, called HoneyBear Lane. Run by Heidi, a momma to 3 little ones, it has crfats and sewing projects, home decor, a little bit of cooking, and a ton of funny, inspirational stories.
However, recently the HoneyBear Lane family has been hit, hard. Heidi's sister-in-law, Alice, contracted a horrible infection known as Strep A Toxic Shock after giving birth to her third child, lapsed into a coma, and after a hard fight, unfortunetly passed away. The story, in full, you can read here.

Everyone involved in the I, MOM project (and all of HoneyBear Lane's readers) are saddened and shocked by the tragic news.

Heidi has set up a Paypal account to accept donations for her brother and their three small children. Please send them your condolences, and offer up your prayers, if you're so inclined!

A special doll is being made in Alice's memory.

Alice was a talented musician, and her sister-in-law asked
that these posters be shared in Alice's name.

Friday, May 11, 2012

NONA closes


So, as NONA winds down this weekend with the graduating 2012 class at Santa Fe University of Art and Design recieving their diplomas Saturday morning, here's a quick visual recap!


5 of NONA's 9 artists-- left to raight:
Daisy Quezada, Anna Ryan, Karen Belton, Michelle Eckert, Jared Schmock,
and faculty advisor, Susan York.


Wall text for I, MOM

"In Memory of Mothers
In 2011, 24 out of every 100,000 children born in the United States lost their
mothers in childbirth. The Center for Disease Control lists 2/3 of those maternal
deaths as "entirely preventable," a result of inadequate care, oversight, and
negligence. The 640 lives unnecessarily lost prompted Amnesty International to
label the maternal death rate in the U.S. a crisis.

The 640 dolls gathered here represent the 640 women who needlessly died
giving birth last year."


Ground view of all 640 dolls and wall text.


Detail of the white/pink section of dolls.


Red section detail.


Red and black dolls detail.



Daisy Quezada, Anna and Madilynn Ryan (that's us!) and Anna Harney in front of the 640 dolls.



NONA's opening night and subsequent 2 week run went great--Santa Fe's community turned out in droves and reception to the work of the individual artists was warm. Thank you to everyone who made it to the show--and who made the show possible!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

So I was curious. . .

I know that health statistics lag a few years, depending on the latest reports. In the I, MOM project, and installation, I've been using the statistics for 2011--a personal year for me, not only because last year is the year Amnesty International released their updated data for Deadly Delivery, but also because that's the year my daughter was born.
Today I was wondering, however, what I could do with the US census birth rates per state from the latest year available and the maternal mortality rates from Deadly Delivery (the data for which, I believe, is also from 2009 numbers).
Why, figure out how many women died giving birth in each state in 2009, of course!

So this is what I'll be doing tonight--converting ratios to percentages, multiplying percentages by number of births, and coming up with the number of women who died, by state.
I haven't been able to find the statistics for this online as of yet, so I expect the results to be interesting. I'll post again when I have the hard numbers for all 50 states figured out!

Friday, May 4, 2012

More shocking statistics

Baby Center is causing a stir again this week, citing a Fox news article about premature births:

"According to Fox News, 15-million babies worldwide were born prematurely in 2010. 1.1 million of those babies died. A Reuters report explains that premature birth rates have doubled in developing countries since 1995, despite widespread efforts to reduce them.

The difference between death from premature birth and survival lies in where these babies are born.
“While more than 90 percent of babies born before 28 weeks in wealthier countries survive, however, in poor countries more than 90 percent die.”
Of the eleven countries that have preterm birth rates of 15 % or higher, nine of those are in sub-Saharan Africa. But, while geography is at play, wealth alone does not determine preterm birth rates.
The U.S. ranks poorly, coming in at 130th out of 184 countries. With a 12 percent rate– 12 preterm births per 100– USA ties with Somalia, Turkey and Thailand. It only just edges out Honduras and Timor."

Reading most of the comments, the consensus seems to be that the United States has a high rate of premature births because of our advanced healthcare system--better healthcare, the comments read, leads to more live preemies! While I'm ready to acknowledge that--again, they state that “While more than 90 percent of babies born before 28 weeks in wealthier countries survive, however, in poor countries more than 90 percent die.” Obviously, wealth and technology are saving babies.
However, that doesn't change the fact that here, 12 out of every 100 babies BORN, regardless of whether they live or die, are born premature.

That doesn't change the fact that here, with 12 out of 100 babies being born premature, we are on par with Somalia, a country famed as "a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world," according to the Human Development Report 2010 – Data Tables. United Nations.

It may be speculative, but perhaps some of the same problems that contribute to the poor state of our preterm birth rate are also contributing to the dangerous state of maternal health in America. 

Healthy  moms = healthy babies.