Damning report ranks Texas as second-worst state for women's health and reproductive care

The Lone Star State has once again received a dismal assessment on the health of its residents.

A study released Thursday by New York-based healthcare research institute Commonwealth Fund ranked Texas second from the bottom in an assessment of women's health and reproductive care in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Only  Mississippi ranked lower.

The analysis is part of the fund's first-ever State Scorecard on Women's Health and Reproductive Care report. To compile the rankings, researchers considered 32 metrics across categories including Health and Reproductive Care Outcomes, Coverage, Access and Affordability, and Healthcare, Quality and Prevention.

Texas has one of the nation's highest maternal-mortality rates, according to the report. Between 35 and 51 Texas women died per 100,000 live births between 2020 and 2022. The Lone Star State also had the 10th-highest increase in syphilis infection rates nationally since 2019 and the highest rate of women who skip needed reproductive care, at 27%.

The large number of Texan women skipping those check-ups is likely due to the state having the nation's highest per-capita rate of uninsured women. Some 17% of Texas women between the ages of 45 and 64 lack health insurance, and that number goes up to 22% for women between 15 and 44 years, according to the Commonwealth Fund.

Texas also has the nation's lowest number of maternity-care providers — between 52 and 70 for every 100,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44. That statistic should come as little surprise since states with abortion bans, such as the one in Texas, tend to have fewer maternity-care providers, Commonwealth Fund researchers noted.

"The U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022 has significantly altered both access to reproductive health care services and how providers are able to treat pregnancy complications in the 21 states that ban or restrict abortion access," the study said.

Overall, Texas ranked No. 38 in Health and Reproductive Care Outcomes, No. 49 in Healthcare Quality and Prevention, and dead last in healthcare Coverage, Access and Affordability. 

Meanwhile, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire rounded out the Commonwealth Fund's report's list of the five best states for women's health and reproductive care.

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