Newly reassembled after Idaho lawmakers let it disband, a group of Idaho medical experts is preparing a report about pregnant moms who died in 2023.
The Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee met Thursday for the first time since being disbanded in 2023.
The committee’s next report is due to the Idaho Legislature by Jan. 31, as required in the new Idaho law that re-established the group.
The review committee’s purpose has been to identify, review and analyze maternal deaths in Idaho — and offer recommendations to address those deaths.
The committee’s last report, using data from 2021, found Idaho’s maternal mortality rate nearly doubled in recent years — and most of those deaths were preventable.
The committee was previously housed in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. But the new law that reinstated it placed the committee under the Idaho Board of Medicine, which licenses doctors.
The committee is working to first address maternal death cases in 2023, and will then look into 2022 cases, Idaho Board of Medicine General Counsel Russell Spencer told the Sun in an interview.
That’s “because the Legislature would like the most up to date” information available, Idaho Board of Medicine spokesperson Bob McLaughlin told the Sun in an interview.
Idaho has several laws banning abortion. In the 2024 legislative session, Idaho lawmakers didn’t amend those laws, despite pleas from doctors for a maternal health exception.
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This story was originally published by Idaho Capital Sun.