Giving birth in U.S. getting deadlier: media

A child flies a kite during a kite festival in Austin, Texas, the United States, April 3, 2022. (Photo by Bo Lee/Xinhua)

Yet the United States is not doing anything to address this national shame. And efforts to ban abortion will only make it worse.

NEW YORK, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States has a shameful track record when it comes to maternal health, and a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows it's only getting worse, reported The Washington Post early this week.

Over the last two decades, much of the world made steady progress in reducing the number of deaths during or soon after childbirth, but the United States headed in the wrong direction, said The Washington Post report.

According to the WHO, maternal health improved in most countries between 2000 and 2015, though advances began to plateau -- and in some places, reverse -- between 2015 and 2020. The United States was among just 23 countries that saw the average rate of maternal deaths increase during those two decades.

By 2020, nearly all other rich countries saw the number of deaths per 100,000 births dip well below 10, while the United States saw a nearly 78 percent increase to 21 deaths per 100,000 births. These data, however, aren't a surprise to anyone following the depressing state of health care for pregnant people in the United States, according to the report.

"Yet the United States is not doing anything to address this national shame. And efforts to ban abortion will only make it worse," it added.