State panels warn maternal death prevention efforts could collapse without renewed funding.
Seven years after Congress passed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act, the program that helped states study pregnancy-related deaths is at risk. Supporters say state review panels have found problems in care and led to changes that save lives. Now data review funding that covers staff and work for those panels could end on Sept. 30.
The grant program, ERASE MM, paid people to gather medical records, remove private details and run work volunteers could not do. In many states, panels did not exist before this review funding. Over five years, the Centers for Disease Control gave nearly $90 million to states to start or improve review committees. Many states received about a million dollars a year to hire staff and build systems that track how and why mothers die.
Those systems matter because death certificates miss much of the story. Committee members (i.e., doctors, nurses, mental health specialists and advocates) review charts, coroner reports and police notes to see what went wrong. Their findings led to new steps in hospitals to treat heavy bleeding, spot infection earlier and check new mothers for serious depression or substance problems.
The work grew more urgent after the Supreme Court limited abortion access, which in some places changed how people sought care. In Georgia, a review found that legal limits had contributed to at least one preventable death and that fear of legal trouble kept a woman from seeking help for infection. Reviewers also found cases where delays in care, tied to fear or unclear rules, ended in tragedy.
ERASE MM is not a large program by federal standards, yet it funds much careful work. Without those grants, some states would cut review teams or stop panels entirely. Five states rely only on federal money to run their reviews. In other states, officials say the grant helped start follow-up programs like home visits by nurses or joint mental health care for pregnant people.
Some lawmakers are puzzled the administration’s 2026 budget left out ERASE MM and related birth-safety efforts. Lawmakers pressed health officials to explain and to help restore funding. Advocates have met on Capitol Hill and say more attention is needed to keep the work going.
A few states already refused federal money. Texas stopped sharing some data and limited what its panel could study after lawmakers restricted abortion. Other states used grants to set up systems that catch problems earlier and act on recommendations.
Those who run the review committees say consistency across states matters. If each state picks what to study and how to count deaths, the national picture becomes hard to trust. The panels’ reviews look at social and legal factors that shape care. Losing that national effort would make it harder to spot common problems and copy fixes that work.
Advocates and some members of Congress call the panel work a smart, low-cost way to protect mothers. They are racing to keep funding in place. If the money goes, programs could fail, and progress could stall. Mothers’ lives matter.
Sources:
H.R.1318 – 115th Congress (2017-2018): Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018
Funding for Landmark Maternal Health Program, ERASE MM, Is at Risk
Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality
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