More Pregnant Women Delaying Prenatal Care
New CDC data indicates a growing national trend of pregnant women delaying their first prenatal visit. Key factors include insurance gaps, provider shortages, and a lack of trust in the healthcare system, all of which increase risks for mothers and babies.
The decline in first-trimester prenatal care reverses a previous trend of improvement seen from 2016 to 2021. Between 2021 and 2024, the share of U.S. births to women who began care in the first trimester dropped from 78.3% to 75.5%, while late or no care increased from 6.3% to 7.3%. These national averages mask significant racial disparities. For Black mothers, first-trimester care dropped from 69.7% to 65.1% between 2021 and 2024. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander mothers had the lowest rate of first-trimester care in 2024 at just 47.6%. A major driver of delayed care is the prevalence of maternity care deserts, counties with no hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care and no obstetric clinicians. More than one-third of U.S. counties fit this description, including 37.6% of counties in Virginia. This has been exacerbated by a 25% reduction in Virginia's birthing hospitals since 2012.
