US pregnancy deaths dropped in 2022, after COVID spike

By MIKE STOBBE
AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — New data suggests U.S. deaths of pregnant women dropped significantly in 2022. It comes after a year when the maternal death rate was the highest in nearly six decades. According to a final tally released Thursday, more than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth. That was the highest maternal death rate since 1964. Government health officials are still compiling data for 2022, but it appears last year the rate dropped back down to pre-pandemic levels. But that’s not great either: The rate before COVID-19 was the highest it had been in decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks the data.