FISCHER: Denying immigrant women prenatal care harms children

A few weeks ago, one of my professors told his class a story to illustrate the complexity of fairness. When his children were still fairly young, his son expressed a great desire to have a tricycle. My professor and his wife spent a good deal of time looking at garage sales and second hand shops until they found a sturdy, but worn and beat up old tricycle for about $10.

My professor then spent hours sanding it down, repainting the body, greasing the wheels and doing various other things to get it ready to give to his son. Finally he was ready and he was able to give his very excited son a very sturdy and reliable, but a little beat up tricycle. His son had a great time riding around the neighborhood showing off his "new" bike.

But then my professor's daughter, seeing how much fun her brother was having, decided she wanted a tricycle, too. So my professor and his wife went and they looked at garage sales and second hand shops again, but as hard as they tried they couldn't find a tricycle. Their daughter continued to persist in wanting one of her own, so he ultimately decided to go to the store and buy her a brand new tricycle for about $70.

It was fancy and had bells and streamers and a little basket, and she was overjoyed when she got it. His son, however, had some other thoughts. "Dad, that's not fair," he argued, "her bike is better than mine." My professor tried as hard as he could to explain to his son the reasons his sister got a new bike, and even pointed out the many ways in which his own tricycle was actually better (such as better tires and a more durable body), but his son would hear none of it. He joked in class that it is still a point of contention in the family.

Although it is difficult for many children, most adults can understand that there is often more to fairness than treating everyone exactly the same. But when it comes to Nebraska's recent debate over providing prenatal care to illegal immigrant women, Gov. Dave Heineman and much of the legislature are acting like my professor's 6-year-old son.

This issue came to light earlier this year when the state received notification that it could no longer use Medicaid to cover prenatal care for a group of around 1,600 pregnant low-income women, which included around 800 illegal immigrants and women who refuse to name their children's fathers.

According to Nebraska Appleseed, a local advocacy group, the state could have preserved the care for these women and their unborn children by transferring them to the Children's Health Insurance Program. In other words, it is a simple administrative fix.

Jennifer Carter, Appleseed's program director, has pointed out "this change would simply require the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to check a box — literally — on a state plan provided to [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services], and then move these expectant mothers into a different program."

The governor and the state legislature, however, have refused to do so. Heineman and others have argued that it is not fair for illegal immigrants to get benefits that the tax payers fund.

To a certain extent they are right. It's not fair that these women should get benefits they or their families haven't help fund. But this issue is more complex than that. We have to look at it in terms of the children as well, because in the long run they're the ones being harmed by the lack of care.

For example, earlier this week, one of the women who lost her prenatal care in the recent changes gave birth in Omaha. Because she was not receiving care, she was not identified as being in a high risk group for eclampsia, a condition that results in dangerously high blood pressure.

She didn't see a doctor until she started having seizures, at which point she was taken to the hospital and had no choice but to deliver her baby a month early. Dr. Kristine McVea, in a recent Lincoln Journal Star article, pointed out that this could have been prevented with simple bed rest and medication. But because she wasn't seeing a doctor, her condition got out of hand, and the results were her child being born prematurely and all the complications that often accompany early birth.

Studies show that prenatal care is incredibly important and is a huge predictor of the child's health. The Department of Health and Human Services Web site, for example, points out "children whose mothers receive no prenatal care are three times more likely to be born at low birth weight, and five times more likely to die, than those whose mothers received prenatal care."

Children whose mothers don't receive this care are also far more likely to be born prematurely and have developmental problems later in life.

It is not fair to hand out free benefits, but it is even more unfair to put children in a life-threatening situation or to place them at risk for lifelong health consequences.

I'm usually one to take a hard line toward illegal immigration, but this inaction on the part of our state government is harming children — children who will be American citizens when they are born.

Currently state senators are saying that they have no plans to even try to resolve this issue until sometime next year, because they have little hope of gaining the 30 votes needed to overturn a likely veto by the governor.

This cannot wait until next year. Gov. Heineman needs to give up his childish notions of fairness and do the right thing. There are innocent lives at stake. I invite you to contact the governor, as well as your state senators, to demand that they stop acting like children and start protecting them.

Luke Fischer is a senior secondary education major. Reach him at Lukefischer@dailynebraskan.com