Long-awaited update on pregnancy-related deaths in Texas expected as soon as next week

The state will release a highly anticipated report on maternal deaths as early as next week, ending a months-long delay criticized by advocates and lawmakers alike. The review of 2019 deaths will provide the most up to date look at why Texans are dying in pregnancy and the year after childbirth. Maternal health advocates say the findings are critical to help prevent more deaths and pressed for their release before the upcoming legislative session. On Friday, officials outlined top level data at a meeting of the Texas Maternal and Morbidity Review Committee. The vast majority of deaths were preventable and driven by six main causes, including hemorrhage, mental health conditions and infection. Disparities persisted, and Black Texans died at a disproportionately high rate. Committee members applauded the report’s upcoming release, but some said there was no need for delay.

“Suppressing and withholding data that does not make us look good is dishonorably burying those women,” said committee member Nakeenya Wilson, a maternal health advocate in Austin. Initially, the state missed the report’s mandated Sept. 1 release date and pushed off publication until mid-2023. At the time, former Department of State Health Services Commissioner John Hellerstedt said more time was needed to finish investigating every death. The decision was a surprise to the committee and drew swift backlash from Democratic lawmakers and maternal health advocates, some of whom accused Gov. Greg Abbott of delaying the release until after the midterm elections. On Friday, the department’s new interim Commissioner Jennifer Shuford said the committee has now investigated nearly all 147 known deaths. The overall conclusions and recommendations drafted earlier this year remain the same, she said. “I feel confident that the data from cases reviewed by the original deadline is representative,” Shuford said. “In light of that, I expect DSHS to release the report once staff can put the finishing touches on it as early as next week.” With the Legislature set to convene Jan. 10, committee members said work now begins to get their suggested policies written into law.