# Texas Maternal Mortality Committee Gains Power

> Texas Democrats aim to empower maternal mortality committee to review abortion-related deaths after recent election shifts.
- Title: Texas Maternal Mortality Committee Gains Power · Texastribune
- Summary: Texas Democrats aim to empower maternal mortality committee to review abortion-related deaths after recent election shifts.
- Keywords: texas, maternal mortality committee, abortion ban, democrats, reproductive rights, maternal health, state house, maternal mortality report, black maternal outcomes, maternal morbidity, Texastribune
- Source: Texastribune — https://feeds.texastribune.org/link/16799/17521740/texas-abortion-maternal-mortality-committee-democrats
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: texas, maternal mortality committee, abortion ban, democrats, reproductive rights, maternal health, state house, maternal mortality report, black maternal outcomes, maternal morbidity, news, local
## Texas Maternal Mortality Committee Struggling
State law and recent legislative decisions have hamstrung the committee's work by restricting data review and preventing federal data sharing.
## Democrats Gain Control
Democrats now control the governorship, lieutenant governorship, and state House, positioning them to empower the committee.
## Report Delayed Until Dec 1
The committee’s biennial maternal mortality report, due Sept 1, is delayed until Dec 1 to fine-tune findings and recommendations.
## Report Links Abortion Ban to Maternal Deaths
The report examines cases from 2021 and 2024, making it the state’s first comprehensive look at maternal mortality and morbidity since the abortion ban went into effect in 2022.
## Committee Meeting Scheduled
State Rep. Donna Howard expects the report to be discussed in a meeting with DSHS Interim Commissioner Imelda Garcia this week.
## Democratic Leadership Supports Reproductive Rights
Democrats’ female leadership, including potential first female 'Big Three,' strengthens support for reproductive rights and maternal health.

> We have a Democratic leadership that typically supports full reproductive rights
## Committee Scope Debate
Abortion opponents want to review deaths from abortions, while advocates seek data on unsupervised abortions due to the ban.
## Committee Reviews Abortion-Related Deaths
The committee already reviews cases where women died because they weren’t given an abortion; this year’s report shows the ban’s impact on this category.
## Anti-Abortion Groups Support Expanded Review
Texas Right to Life and Texas Alliance for Life want the committee to review both voluntary and medically necessary abortions.

> Texas Alliance for Life would like the Legislature to remove a prohibition against examining deaths that are associated with abortion
## Black Maternal Health Gap
Black women in Texas are about 2.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than white women, according to the committee’s last report.
## Bill for Black Maternal Health Study
State Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson filed a bill for a separate study on Black maternal health, similar to a bill she filed in the 2025 session.
## Retroactive Review Challenges
The committee faces resource constraints and lacks full-time staff to review four years of data retroactively.

> We’re already reviewing two years at a time. I think it would be extremely difficult to try to review four years during that time frame
## Committee May Continue
The Sunset Staff Report found a 'continuing need' for the committee and recommended improving data sharing with public health partners.

> The Sunset Staff Report found a 'continuing need' for the committee
## Key takeaway

Texas Democrats will review abortion-related deaths for the first time since the state's abortion ban, using updated data to address maternal health disparities.