KU School of Nursing report highlights dangers of growing ‘maternal care desert' in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The University of Kansas School of Nursing released a report Thursday on the growing 'maternal care desert' in Kansas, highlighting the lack of access to maternal care in the state.
The report found that 46% of Kansas women are in a maternal care desert. The state was found to have a higher percentage of counties classified as maternity care deserts than the national average.
KC doctors, mothers speak out about maternal deaths in Missouri & Kansas
The report, which is based on data from 2022-2024, includes the following key findings:
An increasing number of Kansans travel up to 60 miles for low-risk prenatal and postpartum and labor and delivery care, particularly in the central and southwest parts of the state.
59 percent of Kansans do not have local access to inpatient maternity care.
The availability of services for women with high-risk pregnancies is extremely limited.
Nearly 30% of ZIP codes in Kansas are more than 100 miles away from tertiary, high-risk services.
42 counties in Kansas are without any documented anesthesia providers, and most of those are on the western side of the state.
'Women in the United States who are pregnant, in labor, delivering a baby or recovering from childbirth are twice as likely to be ill or die than they were 20 years ago,' the report says.
According to the report, this is directly correlated with the decrease in access to hospitals, doctors, nurses and other maternity care providers in rural areas.
Over the past 10 years, many rural hospitals across the country have closed or stopped offering maternity care services altogether. This includes Kansas, which is the second state with the most rural counties.
The growing maternal care desert in Kansas is causing more women in the state to drive long distances for care and 59% do not have local access to inpatient maternity services, the report says.
Closures of hospitals and cessation of maternity services are correlated with more babies being born early, more infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units and more women dying during pregnancy or in childbirth, according to KU's report.
The report also found that the counties with the highest birth rates are the ones losing access to maternity care services, which is even more concerning given that rural counties had higher birth rates than urban ones.
Neither Wallace nor Grant counties – two counties in western Kansas with the highest birth rates – have a health care system offering maternity care, the report says. The distance to inpatient maternity care for those residing in Wallace County is approximately 50 miles—and in Grant County, it's 24 miles.
'These statistics indicate that the problem of access to maternity care and the number of hospitals at risk of closing is not new, but worsening,' the report says. 'Decreased access to maternity care harms Kansas communities by threatening the lives of mothers and babies.'
The report also highlights that access to quality perinatal care, which includes care during pregnancy and after the birth, is critical to the health of newborn babies and their mothers.
A recent FOX4 investigation also highlighted the need for holistic maternal care.
The investigation found that a majority of deaths for mothers in Missouri happen between six weeks and one year postpartum. In Kansas, more than half of pregnancy-related deaths happen during this time.
Both states fare worse than the national average of 30%, the FOX4 investigation found.
You can read KU's full report below:
KU-Health-Access-to-Maternity-Care-Report-2025Download
This report was produced by the KU School of Nursing in collaboration with the Kansas Center for Rural Health – and with funding from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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