(Radio Iowa) — Almost one-third of Iowa’s counties…including Adair, Adams, Audubon, Guthrie, Fremont, Harrison, Madison, Ringgold and Sac…are considered “maternal care deserts” in a new report. Stacey Stewart, president of the March of Dimes, says 29 of Iowa’s 99 counties are critically lacking when it comes to health care specifically for pregnancy. Stewart says women in those counties are at greater risk of complications from childbirth, including the death of the mother, the baby, or both.

“A maternal care desert is a county that lacks even the basic obstetrics services to help mothers safely deliver their babies,” Stewart says. “The county will not have even one hospital that offers obstetrics services and also not have any OBGYN or certified nurse midwife.” Nationwide, about 35-percent of all counties fall into the maternal care desert category and Stewart says a majority of them are rural counties. “About 20% of all the women who live in maternal care deserts actually live in urban and metropolitan areas,” Stewart says. “It doesn’t mean that just because you live in an urban area, all of the sudden you’ve got all the resources available to you that you need.”

More than 700 American women die in childbirth each year and some 50-thousand suffer life-threatening complications, making the U-S the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth. Women of color are most at risk of facing complications, and black women are more than three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. “We have in the U.S. some of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world,” Stewart says. “Our rates of maternal mortality have doubled over the past 25 years. What it means is that women are dying at higher rates as result of pregnancy and childbirth as compared to women in other developed countries around the world and that simply is unacceptable.”

The March of Dimes is launching #BlanketChange, a social and video advocacy campaign focused on the iconic receiving blankets used to swaddle nearly every newborn baby. Other counties listed as “maternal  care deserts” include: Benton, Buchanan, Cedar, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Franklin, Grundy, Hancock, Ida, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, Jones, Keokuk, Louisa, Lyon, Pocahontas, Winnebago and Worth.

A Cass County woman was arrested Thursday afternoon on drug and other charges, in Pottawattamie County. A Deputy conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle, ended-up arresting 26-year old Destiny Jo Fuller, of Griswold, for Driving While Barred, Possession of a Controlled Substance – Marijuana, and Interference with Official Acts. Authorities say Fuller was in possession of a “Green leafy substance” weighing 11.5-grams.

A man from Walnut was arrested Thursday morning, in Pott. County. Authorities say 31-year old Robert Dale Hackwell was arrested at Oakland Foods on warrants for Violation of a No Contact Order, Criminal Mischief in the 3rd Degree (destruction and/or vandalism of property as a hate crime), and Child Endangerment. Hackwell was being held on a $2,000 bond for the Child Endangerment charge, and without bond on the other charges.

Pott. County Deputies arrested 40-year old Steven Uriah Brule, of Underwood, Thursday afternoon, on a Pott. County warrant for Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Brule was being held without bond in the Pott. County Jail. And, 54-year old Jesus Acosta Robles, Jr., of Sgt. Bluff, was arrested at around 2-a.m. today (Friday), on a Fugitive from Justice warrant out of Nebraska. Robles was taken into custody following an investigation into a rolling disturbance that was reported at around 1L25-a.m., on Interstate 80 eastbound where a female caller advised she was in a vehicle and the male driver would not let her out. The woman at least one other female were dropped off at the 17 mile marker. Robles’ vehicle was later stopped by a State Trooper after it was seen “all over the roadway.”

A woman from Creston reported to police, Thursday, that sometime between Oct. 5th and Nov. 1st, someone broke into her home in the 100 block of N. Division Street in Creston, and stole several pads of checkbooks and several mounted tomahawks. The loss was estimated at $2,000, as of the latest report.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — White, working-class voters fueled Donald Trump’s rise to the White House, but days ahead of the pivotal midterm elections there’s concern among Republicans that these same voters might abandon the GOP in states including Maine, Iowa and Minnesota. Democrats are targeting 21 House districts carried by President Barack Obama in 2012 that shifted to Trump in 2016.

These districts are testing the strength of the Trump-era political realignment. With the election days away, Democrats have cause for optimism.