Health conditions such as cervical cancer are a strong proxy for the quality of and access to women's health services.

Cervical cancer can be prevented virtually entirely through HPV vaccines, which can be administered as early as 9 years of age. The cancer (or its precancerious lesions) can be detected with Pap smears. Early-stage disease can be treated with minimal surgery, with full preservation of reproductive health and capability (e.g., preserving ability to bear children).

Access to all such services is often through public health care, e.g., Medicare, or through health NGOs such as Planned Parenthood.

Both have been under violent assault, in both figurative and literal senses, throughout the southern U.S. Which makes this study, based on 2018 data, all the more concerning.