Mainstream Media Mislead on a Decline in the U.S. Material Mortality Rate

By: Michael J. New, originally published February 8, 2025, National Review

This week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released updated data on the U.S. maternal mortality rate. Maternal mortality has been a salient topic in recent years, since reports from the CDC and some state health agencies have found short-term increases. Unsurprisingly, many pundits have been quick to blame pro-life laws. However, the new CDC data indicate that between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. maternal mortality rate fell, from 22.3 per 100,000 live births to 18.6 — a decline of nearly 17 percent. This is the lowest figure since 2018. Good news!

However, much of the media coverage of this new CDC maternal mortality rate data has focused on racial disparities rather than the overall decline. Indeed, the headlines from Yahoo!, the Associated Press, PBS, and CBS News all mentioned either racial disparities or an increase in the maternal mortality rate among African American women. None of the headlines from these news outlets even mentioned the overall maternal mortality rate decline.

Some context is important. The new CDC data did show a slight increase in the maternal mortality rate among African American women in 2023. However, the CDC’s own report indicated that this increase was not statistically significant. Granted, it is newsworthy that the maternal morality rate fell for other racial and ethnic groups and not African American women. Furthermore, the relatively high incidence of maternal mortality among African Americans is certainly an important public health problem that warrants attention from scholars, journalists, and policymakers.

However, the fact that the U.S. maternal mortality rate fell by nearly 17 percent in 2023 is extremely newsworthy. This was the first full year after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. By the end of 2023, 15 states had either effectively banned abortion or had laws in place protecting preborn children after six weeks’ gestation. Countless mainstream media pundits predicted that strong pro-life laws would hurt public health. However, CDC data show a decline in maternal mortality since 2022 and a decline in infant mortality since 2023. Overall, it is sad, but unsurprising, that many media outlets have chosen to downplay the positive public health trends that have occurred post-Dobbs.

Michael J. New is an assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.