- COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims.
- The maternal death rate in the U.S. is higher than many other developed nations and had been on the rise in the years leading up to the pandemic, but COVID-19 has only worsened conditions here for pregnant women.
- Long before COVID-19 began spreading, the stage was set for Black, low-income and rural women to receive subpar pregnancy care — putting them at further risk for their pregnancies to go wrong.
COVID-19 linked to increase in U.S. pregnancy-related deaths
