Pregnancy-Related Deaths Nearly Doubled In Texas After Cuts To Women’s Health

[LWolf]

8. There is.

Somehow I didn't make it back up to the top of the page when I was clicking on links.

CONCLUSION: Despite the United Nations Millennium Development Goal for a 75% reduction in maternal mortality by 2015, the estimated maternal mortality rate for 48 states and Washington, DC, increased from 2000 to 2014; the international trend was in the opposite direction. There is a need to redouble efforts to prevent maternal deaths and improve maternity care for the 4 million U.S. women giving birth each year.

To be clear, that conclusion is for the study as a whole, not just for Texas.

The part specifically about Texas:

The Texas data are puzzling in that they show a modest increase in maternal mortality from 2000 to 2010 (slope 0.12) followed by a doubling within a 2-year period in the reported maternal mortality rate. In 2006, Texas revised its death certificate, including the addition of the U.S. standard pregnancy question, and also implemented an electronic death certificate. However, the 2006 changes did not appreciably affect the maternal mortality trend after adjustment, and the doubling in the rate occurred in 2011–2012. Texas cause-of-death data, like with data for most states, are coded at the National Center for Health Statistics, and this doubling in the rate was not found for other states. Communications with vital statistics personnel
in Texas and at the National Center for Health Statistics did not identify any data processing or coding changes that would account for this rapid increase. There were some changes in the provision of women’s health services in Texas from 2011 to 2015, including the closing of several women’s health clinics.26,27 Still, in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval, the doubling of a mortality rate within a 2-year period in a state with almost 400,000 annual births seems unlikely. A future study will examine Texas data by race–ethnicity and detailed causes of death to better understand this unusual finding.

I guess there could be some debate over wording: "seems unlikely" vs "to be explained only by" in regards to the budget cuts; I wonder how far in the future that "future study" will be.

Meanwhile, it may not be the only factor, but I feel confident that cuts to women's health services will BE a factor.