Adequate Prenatal Care in Indiana

Indiana

Early and regular prenatal care helps people have healthy pregnancies and births. To reduce pregnancy complications, prenatal care checkups are recommended at least once a month, starting at week four and increasing in frequency throughout the pregnancy. Prenatal checkups can help expecting mothers avoid or treat complications such as infections, gestational diabetes and preeclampsia that could harm both the mother and baby. 

Babies born to mothers who do not receive prenatal care are at a higher risk of adverse outcomes. Compared with mothers who receive prenatal care, mothers who do not get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a baby with low birth weight, and their baby is five times more likely to die in infancy. Pregnant women who attend fewer prenatal visits are more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than those who attend 10 or more prenatal visits.

According to the March of Dimes, receipt of adequate prenatal care is higher among:

• Women ages 30-39 compared with those younger than 20.
• White women compared with American Indian/Alaska Native women.

Early initiation of prenatal care can be encouraged by improving access — for example, increasing insurance coverage and extending hours of operation at care facilities — and expanding patient education and outreach, especially for populations with barriers to access. Use of a home pregnancy test is associated with earlier pregnancy confirmation. 

Family planning helps people have the number of children they want at the time that they want by providing treatment for sexually transmitted infections to reduce unwanted infertility, as well as pregnancy testing and contraceptive supplies to reduce the likelihood of unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. Those with unplanned pregnancies are less likely to receive early prenatal care because they may not recognize the pregnancy early. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published recommendations for providing quality family planning services, including preconception care.

Healthy People 2030 has an objective to increase the proportion of pregnant women who receive early and adequate prenatal care.

Albarqi, Mohammed Nasser. “The Impact of Prenatal Care on the Prevention of Neonatal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Global Health Interventions.” Healthcare 13, no. 9 (May 6, 2025): 1076. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13091076.

Kost, Kathryn, and Laura Lindberg. “Pregnancy Intentions, Maternal Behaviors, and Infant Health: Investigating Relationships With New Measures and Propensity Score Analysis.” Demography 52, no. 1 (February 2015): 83–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0359-9.

Nelson, Daniel B., Michelle H. Moniz, and Matthew M. Davis. “Population-Level Factors Associated with Maternal Mortality in the United States, 1997–2012.” BMC Public Health 18, no. 1 (December 2018): 1007. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5935-2.

Ralph, Lauren J., Diana Greene Foster, Rana Barar, and Corinne H. Rocca. “Home Pregnancy Test Use and Timing of Pregnancy Confirmation among People Seeking Health Care.” Contraception 107 (March 2022): 10–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2021.10.006.

Shah, Jaimin S., F. Lee Revere, and Eugene C. Toy. “Improving Rates of Early Entry Prenatal Care in an Underserved Population.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 22, no. 12 (December 2018): 1738–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-018-2569-z.