Women’s Health Services Available to Immigrants in America
By: Tehreem Fazal
Tags: Women, America, Muslim, Womens Health, Immigrants

It is a well-known but equally saddening fact that the women’s health services available to immigrants in America are below average. There are a lot of reasons that constitute this. But before diving into those, let’s have a look at what is wrong here. Immigrant women are at a higher risk of suffering from a lot of health ailments. That is not just related to physical ailments, but mental and emotional ones as well.

Refugees and migrants have to go through and endure the burden of both moving out of their homeland and becoming migrants to a new country. They also have to go through cultural differences as well as linguistic differences. Getting the mandatory awareness of a different community and health system is another stressful thing they ensure. For example, certain legal immigrants from the Middle East or Central America may not legally be refugees but have still experienced the same pain of conflict and survival. Because leaving one’s home country and being an immigrant in America is extremely stressful. It takes a massive toll on the physical, mental and emotional health of the immigrants.

In addition, refugee women seem to be at greater risk of post-arrival physical and mental crises. Starting a new life, taking care, and raising a family in a foreign land is much more distressing than it sounds. It takes a toll on the health of women and they soon start to develop some kind of health ailments. It makes it all the more mandatory for women’s health services to be readily available to immigrants in America. It is widely observed that Immigrant women of childbearing age throughout the United States, have to experience substantial obstacles in accessing adequate and reliable healthcare coverage and treatment regarding maternal and sexual health services as compared to the native women of America. There are a variety of policies and structural frameworks that are behind this saddening and worrisome phenomenon. Immigrant women are deprived of their right to avail quality healthcare and maternal care facilities in the US.

Evidently, many laws and procedures actively block and deprive most immigrant women of affordable health care services. A lot of lawful immigrant women are not able to get themselves enrolled in the programs such as Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) unless they complete a period of five years in the US. That is quite disturbing, the five-year limit for this is quite unfair, to say the least. There is a slight relaxation, in case an immigrant woman is pregnant or is of childbearing age, but that too is not satisfactory as it completely depends on luck and other factors involved.

Immigrants are always treated as outsiders; no one owns them as a part of the nation. It is seen that the status of being an immigrant woman greatly affects the women’s sexual and reproductive health coverage. They are not provided the necessary medical care and consideration, which often results in distressing outcomes. In a research, it was proved that the status of being an immigrant woman serves as a notion of being less likely to go through unplanned or preterm births, as compared to the native American women. Immigrant women are at low risk of HIV and even breast cancer as compared to the native ones. But, still, that doesn’t eradicate or tone down the need to have reliable and quality women’s health services to be available to immigrants in America.

As indicated, regulatory barriers have led to disparities in the healthcare insurance of immigrant women. By the year 2016, almost thirty-four percent of the 6.4 million immigrant women that belonged to the childbearing age were uninsured as compared to the native American women of the same age. Additionally, it was also seen that the immigrant women in the US were increasingly seen as not being able to seek insurance coverage. Another shocking fact to note here is that more than five percent of immigrant women who luckily got access to the insurance coverage were planning to not use it because of the threats they have received because of the cultural, linguistic, territorial differences as well as their status of being the “outsiders” in America.

The inequality and disparity between native US women and immigrant women in the US are shocking and saddening at the same time. In a research, it was found that only a handful of immigrant women were lucky enough to get access to contraception care or information in the prior years, as compared to two-third of native United States-born women. Research further indicates that foreign women are less likely to undergo other medical treatments and preventive measures. That includes mandatory tests to diagnose and avoid cervical as well as breast cancer, hepatitis B screening, vaccination, and other such diagnoses. Immigrant women, especially those who are deprived of health insurance coverage, are also substantially less likely to receive expensive treatments and tests such as mammograms, etc.

All in all, it is quite saddening and worrisome to acknowledge the inequality and disparity the immigrant women have to go through. These women are the lifeline and backbone of their families. Their health and wellbeing should never be ignored, no matter what. Even if we gauge this on humanitarian grounds, it is still not acceptable to see them go through this kind of treatment. Instead of making things harder and harder for immigrant women, the US government should start working on policies and frameworks to ensure that all lawful immigrant women are receiving the best healthcare facilities they deserve. The US is home to a myriad of immigrants, belonging to different hometowns, thus, the US should treat those immigrants as a part of the nation and not outsiders. The Women’s Health Services Available to Immigrants in America is by no means satisfactory and quality, it is lacking behind in so many ways. If you want the country to progress, give the immigrant women the right to have access to proper medical care to ensure that you are developing a healthy and well-brought-up nation.