A former U.S. health department employee warned "women will die" as a result of the Trump administration eviscerating the Division of Reproductive Health last week.
Two of the three branches that make up the Center for Disease Control (CDC's) Division of Reproductive Health have been effectively terminated after most of its 100-person staff were laid off. Only the Maternal and Infant Health branch remains, to reporting by Mother Jones.
Despite the U.S. having the highest maternal mortality rate of all high-income countries, the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), which aimed to reduce mortality and morbidity by identifying high-risk women and infants, was one of the programs that has been decimated under President Donald Trump.
An anonymous former Division of Reproductive Health employee affected by last week's cuts told Rolling Stone health administrators "cannot understand factors associated with poor pregnancy outcomes without surveillance like PRAMs."
"If we don't understand those factors, U.S. maternal morbidity and mortality will continue to worsen. This means more women will die," the source added.
In addition to further burdening state and local health departments, experts warned the closures will negatively affect researching, monitoring and improving reproductive health outcomes for all women.
"Research-cutting in any area of medicine is dangerous," Dr. Nicole Freehill, an OB-GYN in Louisiana, warned. "Currently, the United States is the world leader in medical research, and if that gets significantly cut, then I'm worried about what's going to happen with the overall health of our country—of the entire world."
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