About 78,000 Arkansas girls and women between the ages of 15 and 44 lived in a county with nowhere to give birth and no obstetric physicians in 2024, according to a Tuesday report from the women’s and children’s advocacy group March of Dimes.
Almost half of Arkansas’ 75 counties are maternity care deserts, compared to one-third nationwide, according to the report, which collected data on access to maternal healthcare in 2024. Nearly 5,000 babies were born to residents of those 33 counties in 2024.
“Maternity care deserts are not naturally occurring, nor are they inevitable,” the report states. “They are the result of policy decisions and longstanding underinvestment in maternity care infrastructure.”
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The report also takes into account the rates of uninsured or underinsured residents of counties nationwide. Roughly half of Arkansas births are covered by Medicaid, but the future of the state’s program and the number of Arkansans covered are both in limbo after recent federal changes…