Women in the United States face a far greater risk of dying from childbirth complications than in many other wealthy countries.

Now the federal government has taken a step toward addressing the problem with the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act, signed in December, which will provide federal grants to states to investigate the deaths of women who die within a year of being pregnant.

A report released by the Commonwealth Fund in December that looked at 11 high-income countries found that American women have the greatest risk — 14 deaths per 100,000 births — of dying from pregnancy complications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports an even higher rate, 18 per 100,000.

[For more on this story by Emily Kumler Kaplan, go to https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0...ernal-mortality.html]

For another story on a similar topic, see Hospital and Time of Delivery May Affect Mother’s Health.