Five years ago Texas slashed funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s health programs. That same year, a new study shows, the state experienced a sudden and dramatic spike in pregnancy-related deaths.
As The Huffington Post reports,from 2011 to 2012 the rate of pregnancy-related deaths nearly doubled. In 2010, 72 Texas women died from pregnancy and childbirth complications. A year later, after the Texas Legislature cut funding, that number leapt to 148. After the GOP-led Legislature slashed funding, 82 family planning clinics in Texas were forced to close.
After the closures, the state was able to serve less than half as many women as it had previously. But the study did note that the jump in mortality rate is too dramatic to be explained only by the budget cuts. A Texas Department of Healthtask force is looking into the issue.