Culture and Social Issues

Doctors Call On Trump Admin To Fix Broken System They Say Failed Mothers

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Pro-life medical groups representing thousands of physicians are calling on the Trump administration to implement policy recommendations that would improve data reporting related to abortion and the recorded death rates of mothers.

The coalition led by Americans United for Life (AUL) — a pro-life law firm and advocacy group — sent a Wednesday letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Erica Schwartz calling on the public health agency to “increase the quality of data and reporting relating to maternal mortality and abortion.” The signatories asked the CDC to improve the reporting conducted by the agency and to release the 2025 abortion surveillance report that has been delayed for nearly a year.

“While only Congress has the authority to mandate state abortion reporting, the CDC still has a role in advancing gold-standard reporting by expanding the voluntary elements requested,” John Mize, CEO of Americans United for Life stated. “We urge Director Schwartz and agency leadership to expand anonymized abortion reporting as far as their congressional authority allows to advance public health and inform federal policy decisions.”

The letter’s signatories included: AUL, the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs (AAPLOG), Christian Medical & Dental Associations and the Catholic Medical Association. Other members of the Trump administration including Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. were CC’d on it.

The groups specifically called for the CDC to “publish an annual multi-metric U.S. maternal mortality dashboard” and “metrics for deaths per total pregnancies, deaths per live births, and outcome-specific mortality ratios to better ascertain the risk of all pregnancy outcomes,” according to the letter. They also “voluntary abortion reporting elements requested from the states to include abortion provider and facility, type of abortion, abortion drug lot number, location of abortion (in-facility or home), and anonymized prior physical and mental health conditions which could have complicated the pregnancy.”

“Accurate and transparent maternal health data, including abortion-associated mortality detection and reporting, remains crucial to updating and understanding mortality systems and informing healthcare for our patients nationwide,” Dr. Ingrid Skop, Director of Research for American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) said in a statement to the DCNF. “AAPLOG calls on Erica Schwartz to restore CDC’s data integrity and reporting.”

“Global public health is critical, but the CDC should work first for the advancement of American health, not bureaucratic international agencies,” Gavin Oxley, author of the AUL policy brief and Director of External Affairs & Media Strategy said. “Flawed maternal mortality metrics hold hostage the data that women and their healthcare providers need to make informed medical decisions, working to the advantage of the abortion lobby. Women deserve to know the real risks associated with pregnancy outcomes, from childbirth to abortion.”

The leading cause of most pregnancy-related deaths from 2017 to 2019 were mental health issues, according to a 2022 CDC study. Of all pregnancy-related deaths, 23% were related to suicide, overdose, substance abuse or other mental health factors, according to the CDC.