Why is There a High Infant Mortality Rate in the US?

          Infant mortality is largely due to premature births. There are multiple explanations for the causes of high infant mortality rates in the United States, one such theory postulates it is due to overspending on health care in the US. However, it must be recognized that many women in the US use fertility treatment, half of fertility treated pregnancies result in twins or more, which are at greater risk for premature births. The logic follows, many women who would not be able to get pregnant in the US are, and thus more complications arise than in other countries where women are not able to use fertility treatment(http://articles.cnn.com/2006-05-08/health/mothers.index_1_mortality-rate-death-rate-world-s-mothers?_s=PM:HEALTH, http://www.wisegeek.com/why-is-the-infant-mortality-rate-high-in-the-us.htm,

http://www.slate.com/id/2161899/ ).

        This may sound preposterous, but our wealth, societal trends to delay pregnancy, and access to healthcare may in fact be part of the cause. The United States has not bragging room when it comes to our infant mortality rate. As you can see from the graph below, granting that it is somewhat dated, we have the highest infant mortality rate, tying with Poland. Again, this may sound preposterous since we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and have a highly advanced medical science field. But it is because of our advanced technology that has actually contributed to the problem. I can understand an infertile couple's desire for having her own offspring, however, we must ask the question is this wise. 

As of now, based on a little researching, adoption is the most costly form of getting a child. 

The average cost of adoption, as reported in the latest Adoptive Families adoption cost survey (2010-2011), was around $30,000 (before the federal tax credit and employee adoption benefits) (http://www.theadoptionguide.com/cost/articles/how-much-does-adoption-cost). 

This makes me incredibly sad, because we have so many children waiting and needing adoption 

There are roughly 1.5 to 2 million child adoptees in America and anywhere from 6 to 10 million adult adoptees  (http://www.adoption.org/adopt/adoption-statistics.php).

For a couple to go the route of fertilization treatment, they would be looking at less than half the cost of adoption:

The American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) lists the average price of an in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle in the U.S. to be $12,400 (http://www.resolve.org/family-building-options/insurance_coverage/the-costs-of-infertility-treatment.html).

However, this is somewhat concerning to me since this procedure has such risky outcomes. It would be nice if we could somehow lower the cost of adoption, since there is a preexisting need for child to be adopted, it involves no risk, and burden on our healthcare system. Finally, the third option that no many consider at all, which has happens to be the least expensive route is foster care adoption. The average cost for a foster care adoption is,

$2,744 (http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=2161).

Instead of utilizing expensive, time consuming and risky methods for getting a child we could just as easily, expediently, and cost effectively meet a far greater need of taking in familyless and homeless foster care children.

In July 2010, the Children's Bureau's Administration for Children and Family (AFCARS)estimated that there were almost half a million children in the U.S. foster care system. Half of those children entered into the system only a year prior. The number of children adopted from the foster care system has increased slowly in the last decade, though (http://www.adoption.org/adopt/adoption-statistics.php).

         Please do not mistake me for being callous, the desire to have you're own children makes total sense to me, but if the procedures are expensive and risky for bearing your own biological child, and we have a huge need for caring responsible people to adopt or do foster care, wouldn't it make more sense to meet the great need?