Investigations
Texas committee won’t examine maternal deaths in first years after abortion ban
The decision comes as maternal mortality committees across the country begin to investigate the potential impacts of abortion laws.


A patient holds her hands while getting an ultrasound at Houston Women's Reproductive Services in February. (Danielle Villasana for The Washington Post)

By Caroline Kitchener
November 26, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST

The Texas committee that examines all pregnancy-related deaths in the state will not review cases from 2022 and 2023, the first two years after Texas’s near-total abortion ban took effect, leaving any potential deaths related to abortion bans during those years uninvestigated by the 23 doctors, medical professionals and other specialists who make up the group.

In a September meeting, leaders of the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee said the change was made to “be more contemporary” — allowing them to skip over a backlog of older cases and review deaths closer to the date when they occurred, and therefore offer more relevant recommendations to policymakers.

“In 2024, the committee provided recommendations based on findings from maternal deaths that occurred in 2020,” Jennifer Shuford, the commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, wrote in a September letter about the decision. “I am concerned that this means the committee’s recommendations to policy makers are still not based on the most recent case cohorts available.”

But in interviews with The Washington Post, several members of the committee expressed concern that they would not be reviewing deaths that may have resulted from delays in care caused by Texas’s abortion bans. The first ban took effect in September 2021, outlawing abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Texas banned all abortions with limited exceptions when Roe v. Wade was overturned the following June. ... At least three women have died in Texas because of delays in care related to the abortion bans, according to reporting from ProPublica.

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By Caroline Kitchener
Caroline Kitchener is a reporter covering abortion at The Washington Post. She won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. follow on X @CAKitchener