A “staggering” 84% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which makes it clear that mental health conditions are an important factor in many of these preventable deaths.

Preventable failures in U.S. maternal health care result in far too many pregnancy-related deaths. Each year, approximately 700 parents die from pregnancy and childbirth complications.

As such, the U.S. maternal mortality rate is more than double that of most other developed countries.

The Department of Health and Human Services declared maternal deaths a public health crisis in December 2020. Such calls to action by the U.S. Surgeon General are reserved for only the most serious of public health crises.

In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data gathered between 2017 and 2019 that further paints an alarming picture of maternal health in the U.S. The report concluded that a staggering 84% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable.

However, these numbers don’t even reflect how widespread this problem could be. At present, only 39 states have dedicated committees in place to review maternal deaths and determine whether they were preventable; of those, 36 states were included in the latest CDC data.

I am a therapist and scholar specializing in mental health during the perinatal period, the time during pregnancy and postpartum.

Research has long demonstrated significant mental health risks associated with pregnancy, childbirth and the year following childbirth.

The CDC’s report now makes it clear that mental health conditions are an important factor in many of these preventable deaths.