Texas committee won't review pregnancy-related deaths from 2022, 2023

Source: Becker’s Hospital Review, November 2024

The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee will not examine pregnancy-related deaths due to “backlog.”

Texas woman dies after receiving inadequate treatment for a miscarriage

Source: The Guardian, November 2024

Porsha Ngumezi, 35, is the third pregnant woman in Texas to have died in connection to the fall of Roe v Wade.

Maternal deaths surged in 2020, 2021

Source: The Texas Tribune, September 2024

Even excluding COVID deaths, the maternal mortality rate in Texas skyrocketed.

U.S. faces maternity care crisis, with 1 in 3 counties lacking obstetric doctors to provide care, report warns

Source: CNN Newsource, September 2024

New report ranks Texas as one of the worst states for women’s health and reproductive care

Source: Texas Public Radio, July 2024

Texas is second to last overall for women’s health and reproductive care.

Blood test shows promise in spotting preeclampsia before symptoms surface

Source: U.S. News & World Report, July 2024

UCLA researchers report an experimental blood test may be able to detect preeclampsia, a life-threatening condition characterized by elevated blood pressure and other symptoms. According to the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee and Department of State Health Services Joint Biennial Report 2022, 11% of pregnancy-related deaths in Texas are related to preeclampsia/eclampsia, with 50% of those deaths occurring in the first six weeks (42 days) after delivery.

Researchers find racial disparities in severe maternal morbidity largely due to preexisting health conditions

Source: University of Houston, July 2024

A study by University of Houston's Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality finds “that preexisting health conditions account for nearly 80% of the Black-white SMM [severe maternal morbidity] gap, while the remainder could be explained by differences in severity, differences in treatment within the same hospital or from the same physician due to biases, among other factors.”

The White House blueprint for addressing the maternal health crisis: two years of progress

Source: The White House, July 2024

While noting important accomplishments, the White House also acknowledges “our nation has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of any wealthy country in the world. This maternal health crisis is particularly devastating for Black women, Native women, and women in rural communities who all experience maternal mortality and morbidity at significantly higher rates than their white and urban counterparts.”

Provisional data shows sharp increase in Texas maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021

Source: Austin American-Statesman, June 2024

Data suggests the rate of Texas maternal deaths more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, showing a dramatic increase during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Infant deaths increased after Texas banned abortion in early pregnancy

Source: Stat, June 2024

This articles examines a recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics, which found the state’s abortion ban was associated with increases in infant and neonatal mortality in 2022.

Texas launches public data dashboards on maternal, infant health

Source: Kxan, June 2024

In Texas’s maternity care deserts, nurses offer vital help

Source: Texas Monthly, March 2024

Insight into how nurses who connect with at-risk, rural, first-time mothers can make all the difference.

Texas has ‘alarmingly’ high maternal, infant mortality rates, study shows

Source: Houston Public Media, 2024

While the U.S. as a whole already has a relatively high preterm birth rate of 10.4 percent, Texas is even worse, with a preterm birth rate of 11.3 percent. Houston’s is larger still, at 12.1 percent, meaning one in every eight babies born in the Houston area is premature.

FDA approves first oral drug for postpartum depression

Source: The Washington Post, 2023

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first pill to treat postpartum depression, a condition that impacts about 1 in 7 women following childbirth.

Texas launches effort to reduce opioid-related deaths in pregnancy with Houston summit

Source: North Texas E-News, 2023

Texas signs HB 12 to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to twelve months

Source: Legal Reader, 2023

U.S. maternal mortality climbs dramatically during pandemic, study finds

Source: The Washington Post, 2023

It’s dangerous for black women to give birth in Texas, and it could be about to get worse

Source: The Guardian, 2023

These seven states are sleepwalking into a maternal mortality crisis (yes, it includes Texas)

Source: Newsweek, 2023

Maternal mortality rate spike, disparities continue

Source: Axios Houston, 2023

The extraordinary danger of being pregnant and uninsured in Texas

Source: ProPublica, 2019

Insightful commentary on the difficulties of protecting black mothers from dying in pregnancy and childbirth

Source: ProPublica and NPR News, 2017