Expectant moms face OB-GYN deserts; one state is an example of the national problem

A mother holds a newborn baby.
(Photo by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile)

Wyoming is one of many states where women and families are finding obstetric care harder to find. "More than 15% of Wyoming women had no birthing hospital within 30 minutes of home in 2022, compared to 9.7% of women nationally, a report by the March of Dimes shows," Katie Klingsporn of WyoFile reports. "Such distance from care comes with real risks. Women who live farther from delivery hospitals are more likely to experience adverse medical outcomes. . . . In rural areas of Wyoming, 22.4% of women live over 30 minutes from a birthing hospital compared to 5.2% of women living in urban areas, according to the March of Dimes."

Nestled in west central Wyoming, Fremont County is "not unique, but with one obstetric practice, one midwife and one birthing hospital serving the general population of Fremont County — a New Hampshire-sized area that's home to nearly 40,000 people — the situation here offers a window into the challenges, and consequences, of limited maternal health services," Klingsporn writes. And while Fremont County has a 24/7 delivery center in SageWest Hospital in Lander, women who labor and deliver there will most likely be treated by a traveling doctor, who is also a stranger. 

Map of towns Fremont County women travel to for
obstetric care. (Map by Eda Uzunlar,WyoFile)

Traveling in Wyoming can be both risky and expensive. It "requires money, childcare, work flexibility and other resources that not everyone has. And then there's the issue of winter travel in Wyoming, where icy storms regularly close roads and ground air ambulances," Klingsporn reports. "The OB shortage is not isolated to Fremont County. Hospitals in Rawlins and Kemmerer stopped offering delivery services in recent years. Other counties like Sublette and Weston don't have birthing facilities at all."

Jen Davis, Gov. Mark Gordon's senior policy advisor on health and human services, "said of the dearth of maternal health care, 'It's a huge problem,'" Klingsporn writes. 

While traveling longer distances to see obstetric providers can lead to poor outcomes, more pregnant women in Wyoming are having to take that risk. "The farther a woman travels for maternity care, the greater the risk of maternal morbidity and adverse infant outcomes," Klingsporn reports. 

The loss of labor and delivery care is a national problem. "In 2022, the March of Dimes reported on the problem of 'maternity care deserts' across the United States," reports Stacey Kelleher for Health eCareers. "These communities do not have birthing centers or hospitals offering obstetric care. Outside these maternity care deserts, which affect more than two million women of childbearing age, nearly seven million other women and 500,000 births are also impacted by low or no access to Ob-Gyn care in this country."