A long road to motherhood: Inside Georgia's maternity care deserts
Until recently, the thought of a long drive never bothered Storm Savage. When the 23-year-old and her boyfriend left metro Atlanta and moved to Peach County, she made peace with their decision to settle into a rural home with goats and cattle within earshot. But now, she’s in her third trimester of pregnancy, and the highway is becoming grueling. Her twice-monthly, 60-mile roundtrip drives to Macon to see her OB-GYN are exhausting. Soon enough, she’ll have to make the trek every week. With each mile, a worrying scenario plays out in her mind: What if she goes into labor at home in Peach County and has to navigate the drive herself? Savage lives in what March of Dimes calls a maternity care desert — one of 69 Georgia counties with no birthing facilities or dedicated obstetric clinics, according to the nonprofit’s most recent report . With recent hospital closures and a dwindling number of physicians, Georgia finds itself among the worst places to have a child, especially for Black women, like Savage. It’s a problem that Mercer University’s School of Medicine has been working hard to combat for more than four decades. Yet, despite the school’s efforts, experts warn the
