Pregnant immigrants skipping, delaying care due to ICE fears
Clinicians in the Boston area are worried about the health of pregnant immigrants who are not coming in for care because they are afraid of immigration agents and possible deportation, according to a Feb. 11 Boston Globe article.
Two experts from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—Maggie Sullivan and Henning Tiemeier—were among those quoted in the article.
“People generally are more likely to attend their pre- or post-natal visits than other visits, so when there is a dip in those, it signifies something louder,” said Sullivan, an instructor and director of the Program on Immigrants and Unhoused Communities at Harvard’s FXB Center for Health & Human Rights. “From a public health standpoint, it’s enormously concerning. The degree of fear and the impact it’s having will have negative health impacts for decades to come.”
“It doesn’t take much for vulnerable populations to reduce their visits to health care centers,” said Tiemeier, Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health. “We always see the pattern: If the policy is more restrictive, people withdraw.”
The article included anecdotal stories about pregnant immigrant women skipping or delaying appointments, or having their partners deported—which can also mean losing financial support. Experts quoted noted that lack of access to maternal care has been linked with health issues such as reduced birth weight, pre-term births, and other pregnancy-related complications.
Read the Boston Globe article: ‘Bad public health’: Pregnant immigrants are skipping care amid deportation fears
