Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis

The report analyzes the barriers to health care that result in our country’s troubling maternal mortality and morbidity statistics. Among other issues, the report examines discrimination; financial, bureaucratic and language barriers to accessing care; information about maternal care options; participation in care decisions; staffing and quality questions; and accountability and oversight.  Two years of analysis, including over one hundred interviews, went into the preparation of the report. We hope it proves to be a valuable tool in your own work.

Going forward, Amnesty International’s recommendations to improve maternal health will include calling for federal accountability on the issue of improving maternal health via an Office of Maternal Health within the Department of Health and Human Services, increasing support for community health centers, establishing state maternal mortality review boards and implementing presumptive eligibility for Medicaid in all states.

You can read the summary at DeadlyDeliverySummary or the  full report at DeadlyDelivery2.