Maternal death rate increased by 33% during pandemic: study

Pregnancy-related deaths increased by 33% in 2020 as COVID took over the United States, according to a study published Tuesday.

The maternal mortality rate jumped even higher among Hispanic and Black women, researchers found. Among Hispanic women, pregnancy-related deaths increased by 74%. That number was 40% among Black women.

The pregnancy-related death rate for white women increased by 17% over the same period, according to the study, published by the JAMA Network. Researchers compared maternal mortality rates from 2018 through March 2020 against the same rates from April 2020 through December 2020.

Even before the COVID pandemic, the U.S. maternal mortality rate of 19 deaths per 100,000 live births was higher than most European countries, Australia, Canada and Japan, according to UNICEF.

And Black women were already at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes before the massive increases during the pandemic. Prior to 2020, the maternal mortality rate among white women was about 16.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. Among Hispanic women, it was 12 per 100,000; for Black women it was 41 per 100,000.

The disparity will likely grow even larger after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last Friday, ending a legal right to abortion across the country. While wealthier people will be able to travel between states to obtain an abortion, poorer women will be forced to give birth.

In 2017, a study found that Texas had the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world. Texas is the most populous of the 13 states that had automatic trigger laws to outlaw abortion with the demise of Roe v. Wade.