Debunked 06

Remember that fun game we used to play, “two truths and a lie?” Well, we are making it easy for you and telling you only the evidence-based truth. And we promise it’ll still be fun.

Myth: The U.S. is one of the safest countries in the world to give birth. 

Debunked: Wrong.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System, the 2018 maternal mortality rate was 17.4 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births — meaning 658 women died in 2018 during pregnancy, at birth, or within 42 days of birth.

This staggeringly high rate puts the U.S. dead last among similarly wealthy countries. If you compare the CDC figure to other countries in the World Health Organization’s latest maternal mortality ranking, the US would rank 55th, just behind Russia (17 per 100,000) and just ahead of Ukraine (19 per 100,000). 

And the maternal death rate for black women is even more dire. Black women die at more than double the rate of white women: 37.1 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to 14.7. Black women’s maternal death rate was also more than three times the rate for Hispanic women (11.8).