The Nation - News from July 11, 1988

Black women and other minorities are more than twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications and pregnant women over 30 are 2 1/2 times more likely to die than their younger counterparts, a report showed. The Maternal Mortality Collaborative, which collected data from 19 regions of the United States from 1980 through 1985, found that the overall rate of maternal deaths was 14.1 per 100,000 live births. The rate of maternal death for blacks and other minorities was 26.7 per 100,000 live births, exceeding the rate for white women of 10.0 deaths.