Report card shows more work needed on Latina reproductive health

Almost 39 percent of Latinas who had live births in North Carolina say their pregnancies were unintended.

Photo courtesy of IndexOpen.

The U.S. state of North Carolina gets mostly average to failing grades on Latina’s reproductive health, says an annual report card on women’s health.

The 2007 North Carolina Women’s Health Report Card, issued by the University of North Carolina’s Center for Women’s Health Research, compiles statistics on women’s health issues, including chronic disease (such as diabetes), reproductive and mental health, and  infectious disease. It also gathers data about women’s access to health care.

The resulting picture shows continuing health disparities between white, black and Latina women in the state. North Carolina, where Ipas is based, experienced the largest percentage growth in Latino population of any state between 1990 and 2000.

Tania Connaughton-Espino, Ipas’s U.S. program associate and coordinator for its Latina sexual and reproductive health project, said: “The report card’s findings on Latina reproductive health are striking and should motivate the community to take action. More than 30 percent of Latinas reported having late or no prenatal care. The percentage of women reporting postpartum depression and abuse has increased. Infection rates of HIV and gonorrhea are going up as well.”

The report card does not include information about abortion, but it charts high rates of unintended pregnancy among all women; forty-four percent of North Carolina women who had a live birth did not plan the pregnancy. Almost 39 percent of Latinas reported unintended pregnancies, only slightly higher than whites and less than their black female counterparts.

For Connaughton-Espino, the high rate of unintended pregnancies among Latinas can be explained by a number of complex factors. Latinas are the least likely of any group included in the report to have insurance; according to the report card, about 64 percent don’t have medical coverage. That number constitutes one of the most extreme health disparities among the state’s women; less than 18 percent of African-Americans and 11 percent of white North Carolina women have no health insurance.

“Combine lack of health-care coverage with lack of transportation, little or no English language skills and cultural norms that discourage discussion about sexual issues or limit women’s ability to make decisions, and you see that Latinas often don’t have the opportunity to get contraceptives or don’t have the information to make sure they can use them correctly. Preventing pregnancy is very difficult under these circumstances.”

The report card adds to findings about Latinas’ needs for the full spectrum of reproductive health care. In 2005, Ipas released The sexual and reproductive health of Latinas in North Carolina: A five county needs assessment. Its key findings include that Latinas’ first contact with the formal health-care system is often to confirm pregnancy; before then, Latinas are likely to see informal caregivers (such as traditional or alternative healers) or self-medicate. But the survey respondents, who included health-care providers and staff of community organizations that serve the Latina community, noted that many Latinas are familiar with various contraceptive methods and that attitudes about reproductive health vary, depending on place of origin and level of education.

The report card illustrates the needs to increase Latinas’ access to quality reproductive health services Ipas is currently interviewing Latinas in North Carolina to learn more about their reproductive health experiences. It plans to use this qualitative data to inform action for improving Latinas’ access to services and to help them exercise their reproductive rights.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258