Idaho has quietly dissolved its committee tasked with understanding maternal deaths

Source: The Spokesman-Review

Idaho has quietly dissolved its committee tasked with understanding maternal deaths

Amanda Sullender, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Sat, August 5, 2023 at 11:59 PM EDT·8 min read

Aug. 5—An Idaho panel tasked with investigating the deaths of pregnant residents was not renewed by the state Legislature and quietly dissolved last month.

The move comes a year after Idaho implemented a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The end of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee comes before the panel can investigate what effects Idaho's abortion ban may have on the rate of Idahoans dying while pregnant.

The dissolution makes Idaho just one of two states in the nation without a governmental body investigating pregnancy-related deaths and looking for policy solutions to maternal mortality. States with greater abortion restrictions are associated with higher rates of maternal mortality.

Idaho's committee included more than a dozen physicians, nurses, midwives, coroners and other experts who reviewed case studies of all individuals who died during or shortly after pregnancy. In annual reports, the committee detailed the causes of these deaths and how they could have been prevented.

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