Amnesty International Report Calls For Efforts To Address U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate

Maternal deaths in the U.S. have doubled over the last 20 years, according to a new report from Amnesty International that frames the issue "as part of a systematic violation of women's rights," Time reports. The report, titled "Deadly Delivery," found that more than two women die of pregnancy-related causes each day in the U.S. About half of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable, according to the report (Block, Time, 3/12). About 1.7 million women a year, one-third of pregnant women in the United States, suffer from pregnancy-related complications, with the lifetime risk of maternal death in this country greater than for women in 40 other countries, the report said (Smith, CNN, 3/12).

Nan Strauss, the report's co-author, said, "In the U.S., we spend more than any other country on health care, yet American women are at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than in 40 other countries." She also said, "Women are not dying from complex, mysterious causes that we don't know how to treat," adding, "Women are dying because it's a fragmented system, and they are not getting the comprehensive services that they need" (Time, 3/12).

Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said, "This country's extraordinary record of medical advancement makes its haphazard approach to maternal care all the more scandalous and disgraceful" (CNN, 3/12).

The U.S. maternal mortality rate was 13.3 deaths per 100,000 births in 2006, compared with 6.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 births in 1987, the report found. Amnesty said the actual number of maternal deaths could be much higher because there are no federal requirements to report such outcomes and because data collection at state and local levels is often inadequate (Time, 3/12). In addition, pregnancy-related complications that almost caused death rose by 25% since 1998.

U.S. black women have a much higher maternal mortality rate than white women. The rate for white women is 9.5 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies, compared with 32.7 deaths among black women (CNN, 3/12). At the same time, black women are less likely than white women to experience certain complications, such as hemorrhages.

According to Amnesty's report, many pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are the result of systemic failures, such as barriers to accessing care; inadequate, neglectful or discriminatory care; or overuse of interventions -- such as labor induction or caesarean sections. Poverty is a major factor in women's access to proper care, Amnesty said. However, overuse of obstetrical interventions and barriers to accessing midwives and family-practice doctors can decrease the quality of care for all women.

In the report, Amnesty requests that President Obama create an Office of Maternal Health within HHS to improve outcomes for pregnant women and reduce disparities in care, among other initiatives. It also asks the federal government to address the shortage of maternity-care providers (Time, 3/12).


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