Commentary George Q. Daley
According to the World Health Organization, a woman’s lifetime risk of maternal mortality is 1 in 5,400 in high-income countries, yet 1 in 45 in low-income nations. In the United States, the numbers are also troubling, especially for some groups. In January 2020 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that throughout the previous decade, slightly more than 17 maternal deaths occurred per 100,000 live births. Among non-Hispanic Black women, however, there were 37 deaths per 100,000 births while among women over age 40, the rate approached 82 per 100,000. Unfortunately, these reported numbers may be underestimates: It wasn’t until 2017 that all states offered a way to indicate maternal death on death certificates.