AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — State health officials will not be providing their usual review of pregnancy-related deaths for 2022 and 2023.
That means no in-depth analysis of the years immediately following the state’s near-total abortion ban.
More than a dozen people spoke out at Friday’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, saying the decision not to review data only adds to an environment of mistrust and confusion.
“My greatest fear, at this moment, is not, ‘Will I get pregnant or will I be a good parent?'” Serita Fontanesi said. “It’s, ‘Will I even survive my pregnancy?'”
Fontanesi wants to start a family. However, she, like so many others at Friday’s meeting, has heard stories of pregnant women being denied care.
“My big thing is that we can’t know what to do if we don’t really know what’s going on,” she explained.
The state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee was created ten years ago …