In 2006, the United States ranked sixth on Save the Children’s list of best places to be a mother. Now, its all the way down to 31st place out of 178 countries — 13 spots below neighboring Canada. Basically because the risk of maternal death has gone from 1 in 3,700 to 1 in 2,400, or an increase of 50%. That’s teh same rate as Iran or Romania. During the same stretch, the US made mediocre strides in saving children’s lives, cutting the risk of death for children younger than 5 years of age by a mere 15 percent, according to Save the Children CEO Marilyn Miles. Only 14 countries made less progress in the past 15 years. Nonetheless, there are worse places. At the bottom, Somalia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
AM 820 News anchor Robert Pankau spoke to ABC News correspondent Scott Goldberg.
