The messages suggest that the agency was moving toward a required Sept. 1 release of the state’s first updated count of pregnancy-related deaths in nearly a decade.
BACKGROUND: Maternal health advocates in the dark as Texas stalls on new mortality data
On Sept. 2, however, then-Commissioner John Hellerstedt, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, said the agency needed more time to complete the analysis.
The last-minute delay infuriated maternal health experts who have spent years pressing the state to update its sluggish data review process. Members of the state’s Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, which analyzes pregnancy-related deaths, said they were given no heads up about the announcement.
Advocates have since accused Gov. Abbott of instigating the delay in an effort to protect his re-election chances in the midterms.
Some of the strongest condemnation over the hold-up has come from the Black community, where women are three times more likely to die from childbirth than white women. This year’s report would be the state’s first to analyze the causes behind racial disparities among those who die during or after childbirth.
While it’s true that the agency had not completed a full count as of September, as Hellerstedt said, a draft preliminary report on the majority of 2019 deaths was finished and in the final stages of editing, according to the emails. It has been the agency’s practice for years to release findings even before a full analysis is completed, in an effort to speed up public health interventions.
Agency staff were sharing final versions of the draft as late as Aug. 24, according to the emails.
Earlier that month, the health agency had been preparing to brief Abbott’s office and state legislators about the report’s findings.
“Do you guys mind providing a one page write up on the main take aways or changes/developments since the last M3 report?” Rachael Hendrickson wrote on Aug. 11. “I want to make sure Dr H has a quick version since sometimes with leg leadership it is hard to get time.”
“I’m asking Gov office to schedule a full separate meeting,” she added.
Neither the health agency nor the governor’s office responded to questions about if and when they met to discuss the findings. A spokeswoman for the governor has not previously commented on whether Abbott had any involvement in the delay.
Interim DSHS Commissioner Jennifer Shuford has told lawmakers she plans to release some data in time for the coming legislative session, which starts in January. She is also scheduled to update the maternal mortality committee on the process at its meeting this Friday.
“The report is still not final pending further discussion with the review committee,” said Chris Van Deusen, a spokesperson for the agency. “Dr. Shuford is going to discuss it with them this week. After that happens, we’ll likely have more information on next steps.”
Data released last month by the health agency showed that the rate of life-threatening hemorrhaging among Black women during childbirth in Texas increased through 2020, while the rate for all other demographic groups dropped.
As of September, the state had identified 149 potential pregnancy-related deaths in 2019, and had investigated all but about 30 of them. In 2013, the last year to be examined, 70 deaths were determined to be pregnancy-related out of 175 potential cases.
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