One in 10 Rhode Island women becomes pregnant each year, 36 percent of them unintentionally. Almost a quarter will have an abortion; 15 percent will have a miscarriage.
As of 2003, Rhode Island had the nation’s lowest percentage of births to women receiving late or no prenatal care, and infant mortality is slightly lower here than in the nation as a whole with 6.7 per 1,000 births vs. 6.9. Still, preterm births, which are the leading cause of infant mortality in the state, rose by 39 percent between 1995 and 2005.
These are some of the figures included in a “snapshot” on women’s status in Rhode Island issued last week by the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island in conjunction with a “Webinar” on reproductive health.
“Reproductive health is a fundamental issue for women,” said Marcia Coné-Tighe, executive director of the Women’s Fund. “Every woman should have the resources, the education, and the choice to become pregnant and maintain a healthy pregnancy, and avoid unwanted pregnancy and disease.
“These issues are being debated right here in Rhode Island right now, and we’re hoping this discussion helps inform the debate.”
Much of the discussion during the Webinar focused on barriers to access reproductive health care – Rhode Island serves only 24 percent of the estimated 67,910 women who qualify for publicly funded family planning services, for example.
But there was also positive news.
Dr. Carroll Medeiros, an ob/gyn at Women & Infants Hospital, noted that women “are seeking a more holistic approach” to their health care, and the availability of midwifery services, for example, is making it easier for them to get the care they want locally.
More information is available at www.wfri.org.
