Men get women pregnant. Women deliver babies. Oklahoma has terrible maternal care for women. “So, what?” say anti-abortion lawmakers.
Here’s one “so, what” that our pro-business, job-creating, Republican lawmakers ought to consider when answering the valid question of why it is so hard to recruit major corporations to build and/or expand in this state:
Top executives know Oklahoma ranks among the worst in delivering quality health care to our citizens and especially for women. Over half of our counties have no neo-natal services.
So, why would corporate decision-makers think it smart to invest in such “health care deserts” and then ask their employees to be happy or excited to re-settle there from more progressive states that do not treat doctors as felons if they provide even the minimum of care to pregnant women. Or to a state where new doctors who earn their medical degrees here immediately leave for other locations so they don’t run the risk of imprisonment when they apply the skills learned during their medical training.
Can you name any major corporation that has opened a new plant or facility of any major significance during the Stitt Administration with the exception of call centers or occasional expansion of existing operations in the Pryor Mid-America Industrial Park – which was created during World War II with government money and land.
Yep, Kimberly Clark makes more toilet paper rolls there, which kind of fits Stitt’s performance as a job creator during his seven years in office. No wonder the most recent Consumer Reports lists our state as 50th in education – not new news – but also 50th now in health care services for our citizens – new and a very damaging designation which puts the lie to whatever the Oklahoma Standard may be or ever was.
It’s so bad here the state of Mississippi now recruits companies by saying “Thank God for Oklahoma” as they promote a so-called miracle in the Magnolia State. It wasn’t a miracle. It was significant monetary and personnel investments in their public schools while ignoring the worn-out dogma of which state is the reddest, ranked as the most conservative or blindly in love with Donald Trump.
Business deciders want strong public schools, excellent health care facilities staffed with smart, dedicated medical providers; an infrastructure that connects important services; and lawmakers who don’t start every speech with their love of God, Trump, low or no taxes and the right to tote their favorite piece anywhere and everywhere they want.
Is that really asking too much?
Apparently so.
