Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) boasted about being devoted to the "sanctity of life," but she didn't have an answer for her state's problems with infant and maternal mortality.
Speaking to "Face the Nation," Sanders claimed that they've prioritized alternatives to abortion, such as foster care, adoption and her efforts to increase the "quality of life." The talking points don't match up with the statistics, however, the host pointed out.
Like many so-called "pro-life" states, Arkansas suffers from a high mortality rate for mothers, but also for pre-term births. The March of Dimes, an organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies, gave the state an "F" grade for pre-term births. The infant mortality rate significantly increased in 2021. It is 8.6 when the U.S. rate is 5.4.
"Birthing people in Arkansas have a high vulnerability to poor outcomes and are most vulnerable due to overall physical health," the report (PDF) says.
As the host explained, until 2021, Arkansas was among the worst states in the country for maternal mortality. In large part, the state hasn't extended postpartum care for mothers. Huckabee Sanders was pressed on why she doesn't want mothers to get a full year of care and limits them to just 60 days.
Huckabee Sanders said she rejected the premise of the question and said that the focus on foster care and so-called "crisis pregnancy centers," which masquerade as clinics but have no medical staff and have been caught lying to women simply to talk them out of abortions.
“If we are going to be the most pro-life state in the union, we have to be prepared when those mothers come to a facility and they need help,” Arkansas state Rep. Robin Lundstrum said during a 2022 legislative hearing on funding such centers.
The American Medical Association Journal of Ethics calls such centers "unethical."
See Sanders in the video below or at the link here.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Trump endorsement: "Election right now is very simple" youtu.be
