West Virginia

Mothers Ranking Poorly on Risk Factors

Among the 26 states that report data to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring Assessment System, West Virginia mothers ranked poorly on many risk factors including tobacco use (39.5 percent, versus the average of 23.2 percent), multivitamin use (28.2 percent versus the average of 35.1 percent), and experience of physical abuse (4.7 percent versus the average of 3.6 percent). A higher percentage of West Virginia pregnancies were unplanned (46.0 percent versus 30.9 percent) than the 26-state average, and a higher percentage of births were to mothers covered by Medicaid (64.6 percent versus 36.0 percent).

Infant mortality in 2005 was 8.1 per 1,000 live births, 10th highest among U.S. states. Almost half (49 percent) of births were to women enrolled in Medicaid. In 2006, women in West Virginia obtained 2,089 legal abortions, for a ratio of 100 per 1,000 live births and a rate 6 of per 1,000 women aged [Page 1271]15–44; both are well below the national average of 233 and 15, respectively.

Ipas, a national reproductive rights advocacy organization, rates West Virginia 20th among the 50 states in terms of their criteria for reproductive rights. Restrictions include mandatory counseling and a waiting period before obtaining an abortion, mandatory parental involvement in minor's abortions, and lack of confidential family planning services for minors.

Influential Virginia Mothers

Famous mothers from West Virginia include the Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton, the actress Jean Carson (who played Daphne on The Andy Griffith Show), the author Pearl Buck (the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature), and Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who was born in Ireland but became a famous labor leader in the American South. West Virginia District Attorney Reese Blizzard called her “the most dangerous woman in America” for her expertise in organizing workers and leading strikes.