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Report: Texas maternal death rate study delayed until next year

The delay means lawmakers likely won't be able to use the data until 2025.

TEXAS, USA — Texas health officials have missed a key window to complete the state's first major updated count of pregnancy-related deaths in nearly a decade, according to a report from the Houston Chronicle.

Officials say the data will now be released next summer, after the upcoming Texas legislative session. That means lawmakers likely won't be able to use the data until 2025.

Health officials say the reason they don't want to publish the data now is because it is not easily and readily comparable to other states' data, and they don't want there to be room for misinterpretation when Texas' data is released.

But politicians say the data is critical for understanding the role the state's abortion law could play in the future. State Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston), a member of the Texas Women's Health Caucus, spoke to the Houston Chronicle about the data delay.

"There are a lot of us that want to know whether or not pregnancy in Texas is a death sentence. If we've got a higher rate of maternal mortality, we sure want to figure it out," Johnson said. "You can't figure it out if somebody's sitting on the numbers, and that's my worry."

To learn more, read the Houston Chronicle's full report.

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