Amid Reporting on Preventable Deaths of Pregnant Women Post-Dobbs, Committee Democrats Raise Concerns that Texas Is Intentionally Restricting Evidence of Its Maternal Care and Mortality Crisis
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Rep. Summer Lee sent a letter demanding answers from the Texas Department of State Health Services after the state’s maternal mortality committee decided not to review pregnancy-related deaths between 2022 and 2023—the period after Texas imposed a strict abortion ban. The Members raised concerns that the state is abandoning this data review as fewer Texas women have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare in the wake of the state’s abortion ban, and amid public reporting on several tragic and preventable maternal deaths in Texas.
“We write to express our deep concerns regarding the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee’s (MMMRC) recent decision to forgo a review of pregnancy-related deaths between 2022 and 2023, contrary to Texas state law. In September 2021, Texas enacted a law—Senate Bill 8—that effectively banned abortion after six weeks gestation followed by an even stricter ban in June 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We are concerned that the MMMRC is choosing to forego data review for the period after Texas imposed these restrictions on abortion due to a chilling effect on reproductive care in Texas that means fewer women are able to access emergency, life-saving reproductive health care services,” wrote the Members.
“Josseli Barnica. Navaeh Crain. Porsha Ngumezi. These are just a few of the names of Texas women who would be alive today if not for Texas’ abortion ban. These three women—some who were already mothers, and one who was only 18 years old at the time of her death—could have been saved if they were treated with the proper medical care. But rather than repeal the law and save lives, Texas legislators decided to bury the truth and silence these family’s stories and losses, said Rep. Crockett. “Texas Republicans know there is nothing “pro-life” about the stories of these women and the broken families they leave behind. I and my fellow House Oversight Democrats will not allow Texas Republicans to hide the consequences of their deadly law. Today, we are demanding the Texas Department of State Health Services explain its reasoning behind its decision to stop reviewing maternal mortality deaths in the years following their abortion ban. The people of Texas deserve the truth.”
Access to abortion care has sharply declined due to abortion restrictions upheld and enabled by the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of the Dobbs decision, which stripped Americans of the constitutional right to abortion. In September 2021, Texas enacted an abortion ban that prohibited abortion after approximately six weeks and incentivized private citizens to sue those who seek or provide abortions. Immediately following the Dobbs decision in 2022, Texas enacted a sweeping “trigger law” that prohibits nearly all abortions and makes providing an abortion a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
Over the past two decades, maternal deaths—particularly in Texas and other states with severe restrictions on abortion care—have risen. According to MMMRC’s most recent report, in 2020 the number of women in Texas who experienced a pregnancy-related death rose sharply to the highest numbers since Texas began tracking maternal deaths in 2013, jumping from 17.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 27.7 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020.
While MMMRC refuses to analyze pregnancy-related deaths from 2022 to 2023, surveys of obstetricians and gynecologists, as well as patient stories, illuminate how strict abortion restrictions in Texas are a barrier to necessary care. More than 70% of practicing Texas obstetricians and gynecologists reported that Texas’ laws negatively affected their work and prohibited them from providing high quality, evidence-based care for their patients. Amid these challenges, Texas is also experiencing an exodus of reproductive healthcare providers leaving the state.
MMMRCs are critical to helping understand the drivers of maternal mortality. As the first and largest state to implement a strict abortion ban, Texas can offer important insight into the effect of abortion bans. Given this urgent importance, the Members called on the Texas MMMRC to provide a staff-level briefing to the Committee by January 2, 2025.
