US faces maternity care crisis, report warns. Here’s why [Video]

The United States is facing an ongoing maternity health crisis in which 1 in every 3 counties does not have a single obstetric clinician, affecting women’s access to care, according to a new report.Related video above: Black women three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white womenThe report, released Tuesday by the infant and maternal health nonprofit March of Dimes, says that in many parts of the country, obstetrician/gynecologists and family physicians who deliver babies are leaving the workforce, which worsens access to care.Ob/gyns nationwide delivered more than 85% of babies born in 2022, according to the report, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) now projects that the nation will face a shortage of 12,000 to 15,000 ob/gyns by 2050.Additionally, “there’s been a significant uptick in, say, the last five years in terms of hospitals closing their obstetric units, with staff shortages, poor reimbursements, …