Mortality rate for Black mothers has not improved, CDC data shows

ATLANTA - The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released alarming new data concerning Black women and childbirth.

According to the new report, the mortality rate for Black mothers hasn't improved despite declining rates for other mothers.

By the numbers:

The new data uses the World Health Organization's definition, which says that maternal death is "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes."

According to the data, which examined births in 2023, the maternal mortality rate decreased to 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births - a significant drop from 22.3 the year before. 

The CDC data found that the mortality rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births - nearly three and a half times more than white and Hispanic women and almost five times more than Asian women.

What they're saying:

Dr. Cecil Bennet of Newnan Family Medicine told FOX 5 that this epidemic isn't new.

"It's more the status quo," he said. "And unfortunately, that's where we are."

Bennett said the data highlights disparities that have been around for decades.

"We're talking about access to care - whether it is a distance issue in getting to a provider - access to care as part of having enough providers within the community," he said.

Dr. Cecil Bennet of Newnan Family Medicine

He pointed to several studies showing that there was often a communication barrier between doctors and patients of different cultures and backgrounds.

"Women who are of color that come in, they have certain complaints that are ignored," he said.

Bennett said that he doesn't think it's necessarily that some doctors are racist. Rather, he believes that there can be bias without the doctor knowing it. 

"It's just a different comfort level that's there," he said. "That's just human nature. Again, it's more of an issue of bias."

To address that, Bennett says patients need doctors who share similar backgrounds or look like them.

"African Americans and Latinos make up about 40% of the US population and only about 8% of all physicians," he said.

Dig deeper:

In Georgia, the maternal mortality rate has been among the highest in the country across all races.

The March of Dimes gave the state a failing grade on a report card on the subject passed in 2024. 

While some counties saw improvements, the organization said they still received scores of D+ or lower overall.

"It's time to actually do something with the data. What is the purpose of having data if you can do absolutely nothing with it?" he said. "Until the U.S. is willing to make that investment in general, we will always have higher death rates among mothers burying children."

What's next:

Georgia is now expanding a program that provides perinatal home visits in hopes of reversing these numbers.

In January, the program received another $3 million to expand to 75 counties throughout the state.