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Pro-life groups press CDC for updated abortion and maternal mortality reporting
A coalition of four pro-life medical organizations headed by Americans United for Life (AUL) is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to implement better policies for releasing data regarding maternal mortality and abortion.
Four pro-life medical organizations are calling for the CDC to release overdue abortion reporting and implement more accurate methods of calculating maternal mortality rates.
They want the CDC to update the standard for reporting from the World Health Organization standard currently being used.
A new standard would better illustrate the impacts of ectopic pregnancies, miscarriage, and abortion on maternal mortality rates.
The pro-life organizations, which represent thousands of medical professionals, sent their letter to Erica Schwartz, the current director of the CDC. In it, they call for the agency to release overdue abortion reporting data and to implement more accurate methods of calculating maternal mortality rates, including abortion in that data.
They note that currently, the United States uses the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for calculating maternal mortality rates; however, that standard "fails to include a denominator reflective of all pregnancy outcomes." An updated standard seeks to include the number of deaths associated with miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies, and abortion.
As the National Review explained:
Having updated, more specific information will make CDC data the standard — rather than abortion-industry Guttmacher Institute statistics — providing a better understanding of what’s going on in women’s reproductive health care as it involved pregnancies.
"Abortion reporting remains voluntary and early pregnancy losses are undercounted," the letter states. "Under these conditions, ratios weighed against live births alone cannot reflect the risk women face in any given pregnancy outcome."
The coalition suggests that the WHO standard can continue to be used to compare international rates, but within the U.S., a "multi-metric model" which includes expanding voluntary abortion reporting should be used to "protect American health."
“Global public health is critical, but the CDC should work first for the advancement of American health, not bureaucratic international agencies,” said Gavin Oxley, author of the AUL policy brief and Director of External Affairs & Media Strategy. “ He continued:
"Flawed maternal mortality metrics hold hostage the data that women and their healthcare providers need to make informed medical decisions, working to the advantage of the abortion lobby. Women deserve to know the real risks associated with pregnancy outcomes, from childbirth to abortion.”
John Mize, CEO of AUL, stated:
“While only Congress has the authority to mandate state abortion reporting, the CDC still has a role in advancing gold-standard reporting by expanding the voluntary elements requested.
We urge Director Schwartz and agency leadership to expand anonymized abortion reporting as far as their congressional authority allows to advance public health and inform federal policy decisions.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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·Pro-life groups press CDC for updated abortion and maternal mortality reporting
A coalition of four pro-life medical organizations headed by Americans United for Life (AUL) is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to implement better policies for releasing data regarding maternal mortality and abortion.
Four pro-life medical organizations are calling for the CDC to release overdue abortion reporting and implement more accurate methods of calculating maternal mortality rates.
They want the CDC to update the standard for reporting from the World Health Organization standard currently being used.
A new standard would better illustrate the impacts of ectopic pregnancies, miscarriage, and abortion on maternal mortality rates.
The pro-life organizations, which represent thousands of medical professionals, sent their letter to Erica Schwartz, the current director of the CDC. In it, they call for the agency to release overdue abortion reporting data and to implement more accurate methods of calculating maternal mortality rates, including abortion in that data.
They note that currently, the United States uses the World Health Organization (WHO) standard for calculating maternal mortality rates; however, that standard "fails to include a denominator reflective of all pregnancy outcomes." An updated standard seeks to include the number of deaths associated with miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies, and abortion.
As the National Review explained:
Having updated, more specific information will make CDC data the standard — rather than abortion-industry Guttmacher Institute statistics — providing a better understanding of what’s going on in women’s reproductive health care as it involved pregnancies.
"Abortion reporting remains voluntary and early pregnancy losses are undercounted," the letter states. "Under these conditions, ratios weighed against live births alone cannot reflect the risk women face in any given pregnancy outcome."
The coalition suggests that the WHO standard can continue to be used to compare international rates, but within the U.S., a "multi-metric model" which includes expanding voluntary abortion reporting should be used to "protect American health."
“Global public health is critical, but the CDC should work first for the advancement of American health, not bureaucratic international agencies,” said Gavin Oxley, author of the AUL policy brief and Director of External Affairs & Media Strategy. “ He continued:
"Flawed maternal mortality metrics hold hostage the data that women and their healthcare providers need to make informed medical decisions, working to the advantage of the abortion lobby. Women deserve to know the real risks associated with pregnancy outcomes, from childbirth to abortion.”
John Mize, CEO of AUL, stated:
“While only Congress has the authority to mandate state abortion reporting, the CDC still has a role in advancing gold-standard reporting by expanding the voluntary elements requested.
We urge Director Schwartz and agency leadership to expand anonymized abortion reporting as far as their congressional authority allows to advance public health and inform federal policy decisions.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Nancy Flanders
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·Issues
Cassy Cooke
·Guest Column
Right to Life UK
·Issues
Nancy Flanders
·Issues
Bridget Sielicki
·Human Interest
Bridget Sielicki
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·Analysis
Bridget Sielicki
·Investigative
Bridget Sielicki
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·