In a new release during the week of May 6, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about 700 women die from pregnancy-related complications each year in the U.S. and that 60 percent of these deaths could be prevented. According to the Vital Signs report, Black women and American Indian/Alaska Native women were about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause as White women. In 2018, several studies reported that this national trend is exacerbated by rural hospital closures. The Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health recently updated an online portal for data, resources and learning events on maternal morbidity and mortality.
