Why We Exist

Abide Women’s Health Services exists to improve birth outcomes in
communities with the lowest quality of care.
These are the problems we address:

***All stats courtesy of 2016 Dallas County Health Assessment***

Maternal mortality rates should be less than 10/100,000.

And yet, in Texas, maternal mortality has doubled since 2000 from 17.4 to 35.8/100,000.

The rate for Black women in Texas is 80-100/100,000

The rate for Latina women is 20-40/100,000

These rates are significantly higher than for white women.

Infant Mortality

Infant mortality should be less than 6.0/1000 live births. However:

Low Birth Weight

Low birth weight should be less than 8.0/1000. However:

Prenatal Care

5% of women in Dallas County had no prenatal care before giving birth. “This includes 6% of African-American, 4% of Latino and 2.4% of Caucasian births. Considering communities, percentages range from 7.6% in South Dallas to 2.1% in Outer NE Dallas who did not access prenatal care.”
Only 35% of women in Dallas County have prenatal care in the first trimester

Teen Pregnancy Rate

Texas has one of the highest teen birth rates in the country at 41/1000, compared to the national rate of 27/1000. Only five other state have higher teen pregnancy rates.
South Dallas has a teen pregnancy rate of 96-120/1000 for women age 15-19, the highest in the county. Initiatives to offer free birth control have been offered, but nothing else.