The cost of LBW deliveries is also staggering. Henderson (1994)
             hypothesized that $285 million in hospital charges in the United States
             could be saved if prenatal care was utilized to prevent low birth weight.
             These moneys could be channeled into prevention and care programs for high
             risk women if the number of LBW delivered could be reduced. This could
             profoundly affect low-income women, who are at great risk for delivering
             low-birth-weight babies because they do not receive adequate prenatal care.
             In addition to the cost of caring for LBW babies after delivery through
             neonatal intensive care, there is also an immeasurable cost to the quality
             of life. Many low-birth-weight and preterm babies suffer from developmental
             problems, retardation, or both, which can influence clinical and
             educational outcomes. Hack et al. (1995) reported that infants and children
             who were born with LBW have higher incident rates of neuro-sensory,
             cognitive, neuropsychological, behavioral and social, academic, and health
             problems. Each problem is compounded by the others to make growing up very
             According to the Centers for Disease Control statistics, LBW births
             continue to be a preventable national problem. During the past decade, the
             overall number of pregnancies in the United States dropped 7 %. There were
             6.28 million U.S. pregnancies in 1999 compared to 6.78 million overall
             pregnancies in 1990. The 1999 total pregnancy count includes about 3.96
             million live births, 1.31 million induced abortions, and 1 million fetal
             losses from miscarriages and stillbirths.
             During the same time from 1990 to 1999, there was a 9-percent decline
             in the birth rate (based on births per 1000 women) and a 22-percent drop in
             the abortion rate. Overall statistics recorded a 12 percent decline in the
             However, for teens and minority women, the numbers are strikingly
             disproportionate. The 1999 pregnan...