Texas will not release its legally required maternal mortality report until December, pushing back the state's first official review of pregnancy-associated deaths from 2021. The biennial report from the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) was due September 1. DSHS has said the report is still in internal review, as reported by the Texas Tribune.
Committee records show the scale of the work. According to committee meeting minutes from December 5, 2025, DSHS had identified 277 cases from 2021 and 180 cases from the first three quarters of 2024 as of November 25, 2025. The Tribune reported that the 2021 total is higher than the totals for the two years before it.
For pregnant Texans and their families, the report is more than paperwork. It is the state's main tool for identifying which deaths could have been prevented and what hospitals, doctors, and lawmakers should change. Its release now falls after the November 3 election and after bill prefiling opens for the next legislative session.
A Missed Deadline and the State's Explanation
DSHS said the report is going through regular internal review and that the acting commissioner "asked the committee to strengthen the report by further describing its work around preventability, better defining the sources of its recommendations, and making clearer connections between the underlying data, findings, and recommendations." A 2025 state law, House Bill 4666, gives agencies until December 1 to submit reports that the Health and Safety Code requires them to send to the governor or lawmakers.
Critics see the timing differently. At a rally outside DSHS headquarters in Austin on September 25, state Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat, and women's health advocates argued that the delay keeps risk information from pregnant Texans. Howard accused state leadership of trying to sweep the report "under the rug." Speakers also said the delay shortens the time lawmakers have to draft bills before prefiling opens November 9. U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Dallas Democrat, urged Gov. Greg Abbott and state health officials in a September 24 letter to release the report before the election.
The dispute has a precedent. The Tribune reported that this is the second time since the committee was created in 2013 that its review of maternal deaths has not been released until after a midterm election. The committee met in a closed executive session the same day as the rally.
In 2022, then-DSHS Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt directed the committee to delay publishing until it finished reviewing deaths from 2019, saying that reviewing and publishing full-year data is "a standard practice within public health," according to the Tribune's 2022 coverage of that delay. That report came out in December 2022, weeks before the 2023 legislative session. It found that in 90% of the 2019 cases the committee reviewed, there was at least some chance the death could have been prevented.
What the 277 Figure Means
The 277 figure is the number of 2021 pregnancy-associated deaths DSHS had identified as of November 2025, meaning deaths of women during pregnancy or within a year afterward from any cause. Only some of those deaths are later classified as pregnancy-related, meaning caused or worsened by the pregnancy or its management. The committee reviews each case to make that call and to judge whether the death could have been prevented. For comparison, the committee reviewed 203 pregnancy-associated deaths from 2020 and found that 85 were pregnancy-related.
The committee has not yet published how many 2021 deaths were pregnancy-related or what caused them. Until the report is released, the 277 figure shows the size of the review, not its conclusions.
The 2021 group is also the first to include deaths after Texas' six-week abortion law took effect on September 1, 2021. The report may show patterns, but a case review alone cannot prove that any single policy caused deaths. The committee chose to skip deaths from 2022 and 2023 so it could review more recent cases from 2024.
Past Findings Point to Preventable Deaths and Postpartum Gaps
The last report, released in September 2024, reviewed deaths from 2020. The committee found that 68 of the 85 pregnancy-related deaths that year, or 80%, had at least some chance of being prevented. It also found that the pregnancy-related death rate for Black women was about 2.5 times the rate for white women. Rates were also higher among women 40 and older and among women with a high school education or less.
About one in four of those deaths occurred between six weeks and one year after pregnancy ended. The committee's recommendations included improving postpartum care and expanding access to health care for women. Since March 2024, Texas Medicaid has covered postpartum care for 12 months after pregnancy, giving many new mothers a way to keep seeing a clinician after delivery.
Families do not need to wait for the new report to act on what is already known. The DSHS Hear Her Texas campaignlists urgent warning signs during pregnancy and for a year after. These include a headache that will not go away or gets worse, dizziness or fainting, vision changes, fever, trouble breathing, chest pain or a fast heartbeat, vaginal bleeding or leaking fluid, extreme swelling of the hands or face, and thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby. Anyone with these symptoms should get medical care right away and tell providers if they are pregnant or were pregnant within the past year.
The committee is scheduled to meet again December 11, and the report is expected that month, ahead of the legislative session that begins in January. Earlier MedicalDaily reporting on rising ectopic pregnancy deaths shows why details on preventability and causes matter.
Key Questions Answered
What report was delayed? The biennial report of the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee and DSHS. It was due September 1 and is now expected in December.
Why did the state delay it? DSHS said the acting commissioner asked the committee to strengthen its work on preventability and make clearer connections between its data, findings, and recommendations. A 2025 law gives agencies until December 1 to submit such reports.
What does the 277 figure mean? It is the number of pregnancy-associated deaths from 2021 that DSHS had identified as of November 2025, meaning deaths from any cause during pregnancy or within a year afterward. Not all of them were caused by pregnancy.
What did the last report find? It found that 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in 2020 were potentially preventable and that Black women died at about 2.5 times the rate of white women.
Who has criticized the delay? Democratic state and federal lawmakers and women's health advocates, who say it limits public information before the election and the legislative session.
What warning signs should families know? A headache that will not go away, vision changes, chest pain, trouble breathing, vaginal bleeding, extreme swelling, and thoughts of self-harm during pregnancy or in the following year.
When will the findings be released? The report is expected in December. The committee's next scheduled meeting is December 11.
Published by Medicaldaily.com
