Women who are pregnant in Story County, Iowa may receive health care UNLESS they have no insurance or have Medicaid. If they have no insurance or have Medicaid, they are turned away from the McFarland Clinics for prenatal care and the Mary Greeley hospital to deliver their baby. Instead, they must travel 60+ miles to Des Moines or Marshalltown to receive prenatal care and deliver their baby. The Iowa weather is a great deterrent; as travel can become very dangerous and time consuming due to the extremes in weather changes and road conditions. Add to this, the additional cost of gasoline and it's next to impossible for a woman to seek medical care in the heartland of the USA.
The high cost of malpractice insurance has been used as a reason for the injustice and discrimination aimed at these pregnant women. Clinics and hospitals claim they cannot afford the malpractice insurance so they refuse care or select who among the pregnant receive care. As obvious as this discrimination is; so far the Iowa Board of Medicine and Licensing has not weighed-in. The oath of medical professionals is, "to do no harm"; yet their decision to neglect pregnant women is alarming and very harmful to the pregnant women, the unborn child, and the community. As the community pays for the problems that could have been prevented; such as defects in the babies born with-out prenatal care and mothers who seek emergency assistance in the ER's of the hospitals.
Calling our legislative representatives, sending letters, and sharing the information with others, who may not know of the injustice being executed against pregnant women, is very necessary to heighten the awareness needed to bring resolve to this situation. Woman/men and their unborn children deserve better than denial of crucial medical care in the USA. Please contact your legislators and congresstional representatives today.
