Fewer Women Seeking Medical Care Early in Pregnancy: CDC

Fewer women are seeking medical care early in their pregnancy, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released on Feb. 19.

Just 75.5 percent of women went to health care professionals in their first trimester in 2024, down from 78.3 percent in 2021, the data, from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System, show.

The largest decrease came among pregnant women aged 19 or younger, but drops were recorded across all age groups and nearly all races, Michelle Osterman, the lead author of the report and a CDC statistician, told The Epoch Times in an email.

While fewer women started prenatal check-ups in the first trimester, more women sought care in their second or third trimesters, the CDC also found.

The share of pregnant women who started prenatal care in the second trimester rose to 17.3 percent in 2024, up from a low of 15.4 percent in 2021. And 7.3 percent of women started care in the third trimester, or never went to a doctor prior to giving birth, in 2024. That was up from 6 percent in most prior years.

“We know that early engagement in prenatal care is linked to better overall health outcomes,” said Dr. Clayton Alfonso, an OB-GYN at Duke University in North Carolina. When patients delay medical care during pregnancy, “we’ve missed that window to optimize both fetal and maternal care.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, among other groups, recommends pregnant women go to a doctor once a month during pregnancy until the final two months, when more visits are advised.

The group, which declined to comment on the CDC report, says prenatal care increases the chances of having a healthy baby.

CDC researchers said that the decline in early prenatal care held for nearly all racial and ethnic groups, but the decrease was higher for expectant mothers in minority groups.

The CDC researchers did not outline any theories in the report as to why early prenatal care has gone down, and Osterman declined a request to provide the reasons, in her view, for the decrease.

Dr. Grace Ferguson, an OB-GYN in Pittsburgh, said the proliferation across the nation of areas without maternity care is a growing concern.

Many hospitals have shut down labor and delivery units, “and the prenatal care providers that work at those hospitals also have probably moved,” said Ferguson, who was not involved with the report.

A 2024 March of Dimes report found that more than 35 percent of U.S. counties are maternity care deserts, meaning there’s no birthing facility or obstetric provider. Women living in these areas receive less prenatal care, according to the report.

Alfonso, who was not involved in the report, said he also suspects that access issues for patients are pushing prenatal care later, particularly in rural areas. Patients may have to travel farther to get to appointments and may struggle to find a practice that accepts their insurance, particularly if they have Medicaid.

Doctors fear that things could get worse.

“If this trend continues,” Alfonso said, “I worry about kind of what that would mean for morbidity and mortality for our moms.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.