{"id":827020,"date":"2025-02-14T13:11:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T19:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/14\/the-cdc-hasnt-asked-states-to-track-deaths-linked-to-abortion-bans\/"},"modified":"2025-02-14T13:11:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T19:11:57","slug":"the-cdc-hasnt-asked-states-to-track-deaths-linked-to-abortion-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/14\/the-cdc-hasnt-asked-states-to-track-deaths-linked-to-abortion-bans\/","title":{"rendered":"The CDC Hasn\u2019t Asked States to Track Deaths Linked to Abortion Bans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories<\/a> as soon as they\u2019re published.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order<\/a> tasking the federal government with assessing the \u201cdevastating implications for women\u2019s health\u201c of new state abortion bans.<\/p>\n

Experts were warning that these bans would interfere with critical medical care and lead to preventable deaths. And the states that passed the laws had little incentive to track their consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Biden directed the secretary of Health and Human Services to make sure federal agencies were \u201c\u200b\u200baccurately measuring the effect of access to reproductive healthcare on maternal health outcomes.\u201d He called on the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to drive targeted research and data-collection efforts.<\/p>\n

But the Biden administration has missed a critical opportunity to illuminate how abortion bans are interfering with maternal health care, leading to deaths and irreversible injuries: The CDC has not pushed state committees that review maternal deaths to examine the role these new laws have played.<\/p>\n

The CDC leads the nation\u2019s work to track and reduce maternal mortality, spending nearly $90 million over the last five years to fund state panels made up of health experts who analyze fatalities to spot trends and recommend reforms. While it cannot require states to collect or report certain data, the CDC gives committees detailed guidance for assessing whether deaths were preventable and which factors contributed to them.<\/p>\n

Following this guidance, committees consider factors including obesity, mental health issues, substance use, homicide and suicide. In 2020, the CDC added a checkbox to its model case review form for committees to indicate whether discrimination played a role.<\/p>\n

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Mark Olalde<\/h5>\n

I\u2019m interested in Trump\u2019s and his allies\u2019 promises to dismantle the federal bureaucracy and laws that protect the environment.<\/p>\n