Women in these predicaments have no favorable options. If we honestly want to reverse these trends, we must develop welfare reform proposals that combine job placement with feasible child care options. These social dilemmas are just another indication of systemic breakdown in America. The correlation between adequate prenatal care and successful pregnancy outcome is well documented. The societal costs of inadequate prenatal health care may never be completely manifested.
Infants born to mothers who received inadequate or no prenatal care are often of low birthweight.
These infants are then more likely to die in the first year of life. Many of these deaths are preventable with adequate prenatal care, education, and committed counseling interventions to discourage substance abuse. Complicating the inadequacy of prenatal care are the physical living conditions of impoverished women, including poor housing, neighborhood violence, pollution and poor sanitation and water quality. The societal costs of indifference towards the poor are immeasurable. For example, society will never cultivate the talents and energies of children lost to inadequate care.