Through tears, mothers, healthcare providers, and advocates urged Texas’ maternal mortality committee to review deaths from 2022 and 2023—the critical period following the state’s near-total abortion ban. During a public meeting, committee members defended skipping those years, citing the need to provide timely recommendations.
Former committee member Nakeenya Wilson voiced concerns about omitting these pivotal years, highlighting their significance in reproductive health history. Texas began enforcing a six-week abortion ban in September 2021, later expanding it to a full ban, except when a pregnant person’s life is at risk. Since then, fear and confusion around the law have led to delays in miscarriage care, contributing to preventable deaths, according to ProPublica.
The maternal mortality committee, tasked with reviewing pregnancy-related deaths, has faced mounting scrutiny, partly due to a legislative statute barring the review of abortion-related deaths. The Legislature also allocated funds last year to sever Texas from the federal maternal death tracking system and expanded the committee’s structure, replacing a community advocate role with urban and rural representatives. This shift led to the replacement of Wilson, a Black woman with lived experience of a traumatic birth, with two doctors, including an anti-abortion OB/GYN.
In its last report, the committee noted a surge in maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021, even excluding COVID-related cases. Black women were disproportionately affected, with rising mortality rates across all groups except white women. Despite these findings, the committee plans to focus its next report on 2024, bypassing the early abortion ban years. Committee Chair Dr. Carla Ortique denied political influence in this decision, calling it a “coincidence” and emphasizing the need to modernize review timelines.
Ortique cautioned against actions that could jeopardize the committee’s work, citing Georgia’s dismissal of its maternal mortality committee after a critical ProPublica report. She also announced dropping a request for unredacted health agency files, attributing the decision to a new automated redaction system.
Community members expressed frustration, calling for greater transparency and a comprehensive review of deaths during the skipped years. Advocates like Judy Ward warned against politicizing the committee’s work, while others, including Serita Fontanesi of United for Reproductive and Gender Equity, questioned the committee’s commitment to addressing preventable deaths.
“Too many lives lost, perhaps preventable, will remain unheard and uninvestigated,” Fontanesi said, urging the committee to reconsider its decision.
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