Abstract
More than 700 women die each year in the U.S. from pregnancy and birth related complications. This is not a new problem. Maternal mortality was a focal point for change in U.S. history during the Progressive Era. Many reforms were enacted during this historical period to decrease maternal mortality. This article critically examines the factors that contributed to the high rate of maternal mortality during the Progressive Era, as well as, efforts of the progressives to decrease the high rates of death during pregnancy and childbirth. Additionally the paper discusses contemporary maternal mortality.
Highlights
Measurements of maternal mortality in 1900 revealed that there were 800 maternal deaths per 100,000 women (Lerberghe & De Brouwere, 2001)
Obstetricians argued that the high maternal mortality rate first measured in 1900 as 800 maternal deaths per 100,000 women was the result of poor care given by midwives during labor
After examining the efforts made to decrease the maternal death rate during the Progressive Era, it is evident that some of the problems that were addressed by the progressives are still present
Summary
Measurements of maternal mortality in 1900 revealed that there were 800 maternal deaths per 100,000 women (Lerberghe & De Brouwere, 2001). Progressive reformers were distressed by the high numbers of maternal deaths especially compared to European countries. Wolf (2007) states that deaths of women during childbirth were generally viewed as inescapable and the result of God’s will. As reformers delved deeper into the issue of infant mortality, they realized that many women were dying in childbirth. Those healthy children born to a mother who died in childbirth had an increased chance of dying soon after birth due to malnutrition and sometimes neglect (Wolf, 2007). It was a debate that raged until the mid-1930’s when maternal deaths in the United States began to decline (Loudon, 2000)
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