Texas is the second-worst state in the U.S. for women’s health services and reproductive health care, according to a new report from research foundation The Commonwealth Fund.
“One thing is clear: the health of women in the United States is in a very vulnerable state,” said Dr. Joseph Betancourt, president of the foundation.
The Commonwealth Fund is a nonpartisan organization that publishes reports on a variety of health care topics, including the health care systems of different countries and U.S. states. This is the first year that it has ranked state health care systems specifically on women’s and reproductive health care.
The report includes all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Texas ranked 50th overall, followed by Mississippi. Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island were the highest-ranked states.
This disparity between northern and southern states is no coincidence: the report found regional disparities in access to health care, quality of care, and resulting health outcomes.
“Where women live matters,” said David Radley, a senior scientist at the Commonwealth Fund.
Texas has a low number of obstetric care providers — a characteristic of most states with abortion restrictions — and also has some of the highest maternal mortality rates, syphilis infection rates, and rates of uninsured women of reproductive age.
In Texas, about 22 percent of women ages 18 to 44 are uninsured. Texas is one of 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid access, which would cover 363,000 uninsured women.
Currently, about 30 percent of women of childbearing age in Texas don’t receive medical care because it’s too expensive, according to a Commonwealth Fund report.
Sara Collins, a senior fellow at the Commonwealth Fund, said community health centers like Planned Parenthood are “critical” for patients to get free services. Most of the Texas patients who visited Planned Parenthood last year were uninsured, but the state government continues to try to restrict access to clinics.
“There are significant disparities in women’s access to quality health care across states and across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines,” Betancourt said. “While these inequities have undoubtedly existed for many years, recent policy choices and judicial decisions that limit access to reproductive health care have exacerbated and may continue to exacerbate them.”
The report used data from 2022, the year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, 14 states, including Texas, have passed blanket abortion bans.
Radley said future reports will examine how these recent policies are affecting patients, and that the research foundation expects state abortion bans to exacerbate regional disparities in the quality of care.
Other studies support this theory: Texas has the highest number of rape-related pregnancies among states with blanket abortion bans, and infant deaths increased after the state passed a six-week ban in 2021. Black and Hispanic women in Texas experience disproportionate barriers to accessing health care and therefore more health problems.
Texas, along with other states with abortion restrictions, has seen a decline in applications for medical residency programs for two consecutive years.
