“Fewer than half of all rural counties have hospital based obstetrical services. This lack of prenatal care increases the likelihood by 3-4 times that women will die a pregnancy-related death. Because a requirement to hire more nurses does not actually create more nurses, the only way to meet the ratios or on-call limits in this bill would be to decrease the number of patients we serve. At our hospital, we have determined that will mean closing our labor and delivery unit. This will result in pregnant women driving hundreds of miles to a facility capable of safely delivering their unborn child and hoping that hospital has enough nurses to accept more patients.”