Nebraska’s efforts to punish undocumented women are killing babies

In the name of budget austerity and in an effort to punish undocumented immigrants, Nebraska recently eliminated funding for prenatal care for many Medicaid patients. About half of the women affected are undocumented, and so far there have been 5 verifiable infant deaths due to the slashed funding.

The elimination one year ago of Medicaid funding for prenatal care for about 1,600 low-income women has had dramatic effects, doctors and health clinic administrators reported Wednesday.
At least five babies have died.
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Andrea Skolkin, chief executive officer of One World Community Health Centers in Omaha, said that in the past year, only about half of uninsured women are receiving any prenatal care.
The health center has more premature births to uninsured women, compared to insured women. Uninsured mothers were twice as likely to deliver through cesarean section, which is more expensive.
At the Good Neighbor Community Health Center in Columbus, the number of female patients has doubled, and the income for the prenatal program has dropped drastically, said Rebecca Rayman, executive director. Women are coming to the center from 22 counties.
Even with shifting money from other programs, the clinic finished 2010 losing $167,530.
Four infants died in utero at the Columbus health center, she said. In the previous seven years, the clinic had never had an in utero death.

And the response from Nebraska’s conservative, ostensibly pro-life community?

Vivianne Chaumont, director of the state’s Medicaid division, testified in opposition to the bill. She said the state would have to create a separate standalone CHIP program with the law.
“Our position is that we shouldn’t be spending any money for people who are here illegally,” she said.

Thankfully, not everyone in Nebraska is so blinded that they would allow these children to just die.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell introduced LB599, not with the hope of getting it passed this session, she said, but to keep the issue in front of senators and to continue to gather information on the effects of the women’s elimination from the Health and Human Services program.

With such horrific consequences, one would imagine that no state would duplicate Nebraska’s failed efforts. But if there’s a bad idea, one can usually find Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker rushing towards it.

ThinkProgress recently reported that Walker … also wants to prevent undocumented women who are already pregnant from accessing prenatal care.
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Anti-choice groups have embraced Walker’s position on abortion, but they may not agree with his attack on undocumented women. Anti-abortion activists have often been staunch supports of ensuring that undocumented women have access to prenatal care assistance, arguing that it “improves the chances that a woman will choose to give birth rather than seek an abortion.”
When Nebraska debated the prenatal care issue, Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, stated, “We don’t accept that borders should be put ahead of babies.” In 2010, a local newspaper reported that at least seven women in Nebraska had abortions because they couldn’t afford the cost of prenatal care since the state stopped paying for it.

In the long term, Walker’s prenatal care proposal will probably cost Wisconsin more money than it saves. Undocumented women who choose to follow through with their pregnancies give birth to U.S. citizens who are entitled to benefits. Jennifer L. Howse of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation argues that “the cumulative weight of many studies is that prenatal care saves lives and money by reducing the number of babies born needing expensive neonatal care.” Dan Agin of the University of Chicago further notes that inadequate prenatal care is a tremendous health risk for both the mother and her child. “No pediatrician will deny this,” writes Agin.
Walker also wants to repeal in-state tuition for undocumented students and eliminate Food Share benefits for legal immigrants. He supports passing an enforcement-only immigration law modeled after Arizona’s that will likely cost his state millions of dollars.