Maternal Mortality

Pregnancy-related deaths increased 60% in two years, reaching a high of 1,205 deaths in 2021. Black people are about 3 times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white and Hispanic people.

Pregnancy-related deaths, U.S.

1999-2022

Sources: CDC/Wonder Mortality Data (deaths) and CDC Natality Data/ Report (births). Notes: 2022 data is provisional. A pregnancy-related death is defined as a death while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes. Pregnancy-related deaths are identified using ICD–10 underlying cause-of-death codes: A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99.

In 2020 and 2021, pregnancy-related deaths spiked in the U.S., jumping from 20 deaths per 100,00 live births in 2019 (754 overall deaths) to 33 per 100,00 live births in 2021 (1,205 overall deaths). According to GAO estimates, 25% of pregnancy-related deaths that occurred in 2020 and 2021 listed Covid as a contributing cause of death.¹ Provisional data for 2022 shows that pregnancy-related deaths decreased to 22 per 100,00 live births (817 overall deaths). Still, pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. have more than doubled since 1999. The American Indian and Alaska Native population has had the largest increase in pregnancy-related deaths since 1999.² Black people are 2.5 times more likely than white people to die from pregnancy-related complications. Black and Indigenous people have historically faced racial discrimination, bias, and inequity in health care systems, for pregnancy-related and other care.^{3,4,5,6,7,8,9}

Pregnancy-related deaths are more common in the U.S. than in any other developed country. In 2020, pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. were more than 3 times the rate of other high income countries.¹⁰ Among efforts to reduce maternal health disparities, experts recommend increased implicit bias training across the field.^11,12 At the state and national level, the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act included a 12-month postpartum coverage extension option that expanded Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months after giving birth.^13,14 36 states have implemented the extension, 10 of which are Southern states (AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV).^15,16

1. “Maternal Health: Outcomes Worsened and Disparities Persisted During the Pandemic”. U.S. Government Accountability Office. October, 2022. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-105871

2. “Trends in State-Level Maternal Mortality by Racial and Ethnic Group in the United States”. Fleszar, Bryant, Johnson, et al. July, 2023.  JAMA Network. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2806661 

3. “Health Equity Among Black Women in the United States”. Chinn, Martin, and Redmond. Journal of Women’s Health. February, 2021. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8020496/ 

4. “Implicit Bias and Racial Disparities in Health Care”. Bridges. American Bar Association. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/racial-disparities-in-health-care/ 

5. “How Our Health Care System Treats Black Mothers Differently”. Seervai. The Commonwealth Fund. October, 2019. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/podcast/2019/oct/how-our-health-care-system-treats-black-mothers-differently 

6. “Racial Misconceptions in Healthcare Are Killing Black Women”. Blount, Biggers. Healthline. October, 2022. https://www.healthline.com/health/racial-misconceptions-in-healthcare-are-killing-black-women 

7. “Working Together to Reduce Black Maternal Mortality”. CDC. April, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/maternal-mortality/index.html 

8. “The Article That Could Help Save Black Women's Lives”. Stallings. Oprah.com. https://www.oprah.com/health_wellness/the-article-that-could-help-save-black-womens-lives#ixzz5VRnkBHiz 

9. “Maternal Health of Women and Girls of African Descent in the Americas”. UNFPA. July, 2023. https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/UNFPA_MM_Analysis-July2023.pdf 

10. “Health and Health Care for Women of Reproductive Age”. Gunja, Seervai, Zephyrin, and Williams II. The Commonwealth Fund. April, 2022. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2022/apr/health-and-health-care-women-reproductive-age

11. “Mandated Implicit Bias Training for Health Professionals – A Step Toward Equity in Health Care”. Cooper, Saha, and Ryn. Jama Network. August, 2022. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2795358

12. “Maternal death rates doubled in the past 20 years in the US”. Moore. Live Science. July, 2023. https://www.livescience.com/health/fertility-pregnancy-birth/maternal-death-rates-doubled-in-the-past-20-years-in-the-us

13. “Racial Disparities in Maternal and Infant Health: Current Status and Efforts to Address Them”. Hill, Artiga, and Ranji. Kaiser Family Foundation. November, 2022. https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/

14. “Medicaid Enrollment Patterns During the Postpartum Year”. Corallo, Tolbert, Saunders, and Frederiksen. Kaiser Family Foundation. July, 2022. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-enrollment-patterns-during-the-postpartum-year/ 

15. “Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Extension Tracker”. Kaiser Family Foundation. December, 2022. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/medicaid-postpartum-coverage-extension-tracker/

16. “To help tackle US maternal health crisis, more states extend Medicaid postpartum coverage”. Howard. CNN Health. June, 2023. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/17/health/maternal-health-crisis-medicaid-postpartum-coverage/index.html#