In the U.S. we are assured that our health care is outstanding, and if we can just pay for it, we will enjoy excellent oversight. When we plan our family, we don’t factor in the prospect of death.

A pregnant woman in this country faces much higher threat of death in childbirth than in most of the rest of the industrial world.

A major factor in those deaths is heart and arterial disease, another result of obesity. Another factor is the increasing use of C-section, often employed to avoid the strain of childbirth for a variety of reasons.

Dr Bill McCool, at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, points out that America is far above the World Health Organization’s goal of a 15% C-section rate.

"Surgery of any kind has risk," he says, and a C-section is, "still the riskiest way to have a baby.

"In the US, almost one third of women have that procedure for delivery of their baby."

Death in childbirth is not exclusive to the population segment that can afford C-section. The minority and poverty factors among our population also play a large role in these deaths.

Dr Bill Callaghan, of the CDC, finds that not knowing why African-American women are at greater risk when giving birth has given him and his colleagues’ sleepless nights.

"We can say that some of this may be due to socio-economic disparities.

"But it does not explain all of it.

"And to the extent that we don’t explain racial disparity in pregnancy-related mortality, we’re going to have difficulty making headway into it."

As our U.S. health care system receives increasing attention, the myth of superiority is dissolving very quickly. Under the paring away of protections the last, worst, administration accomplished, our health has deteriorated seriously.

We have a huge responsibility to bring back the strengths of public protections that government was intended to provide. Our lives depend on it.