Texas: Maternal Mortality Task Force Fails to Collect 10 Years of Abortion Data

After a law enacted in 2014, the United States created the Maternal Mortality Review Board, tasked with analyzing pregnancy-related deaths in each state. Ten years later, this working group’s 2024 report will be the first ever to be analyzed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to resort to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion).

Ten years of unregistered cases

Created after a dramatic increase in reported maternal deaths in the early 2010s, it is intended to cover and analyze all pregnancy-related deaths. But it appears there are abortion-related cases in Texas of the last ten years have been omittedthe information is not in the report, as noted Jezebel.

So, although the committee receives information on nearly all deaths that occur during or 12 months after a pregnancy in Texas – including accidental deaths – cases involving self-managed abortions were not brought to the task force’s attention. At the moment it is not possible to know whether this omission is voluntary or not.

Risk of 21% increase in abortion-related deaths

At this time, the committee doesn’t even know how many deaths were overlooked. But state death certificates matter at least 20 abortion-related deaths in Texas between 2014 and 2020. Figures that according to researchers should increase after 2022, due to restrictions on the right to abortion.

And for good reason, a 2021 study estimated what a blanket ban on abortion would result in 21% more pregnancy-related deaths in the United Statespointing out that their projection was a low estimate because it did not include potential deaths caused by self-managed or unsafe abortions.

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