Maternal mortality rate in the US declines to its lowest since 2018: CDC
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(NEW YORK) — Maternal mortality rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest levels in recent years, according to new data published on Thursday.
The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, compared maternal deaths in 2023 and 2024, with maternal deaths defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination.
In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., with a rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the report.
By comparison, 669 women died in 2023 with a rate of 18.6 deaths per 100,000 births, the report found.
This is also the lowest rate seen since 2018, which had a maternal mortality rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Data showed significant racial/ethnic disparities. Black women had the highest mortality rate at 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births.
This was three times higher than the mortality rate for white women of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. Hispanic and Asian women also had lower rates of 12.1 deaths per 100,000 and 18.1 deaths per 100,000, respectively.
Research has shown that Black women are more likely to have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, both of which increase the risk of maternal mortality.
Between 2023 and 2024, rates for Black, white and Hispanic women declined while the rate for Asian women rose, but neither the decreases nor the increase was “significant,” according to the report.
There were also disparities by age. Women aged 40 and older had the highest maternal mortality rate of 62.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.
This was 4.5 times higher than the mortality rate for women younger than age 25, which sat at 13.7 per 100,000 and 3.7 times higher than the rate for women between ages 25 and 39, sitting at 16.5 per 100,000. The report describes the differences in the women aged 40 and older group with the younger groups as “significant.”
More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The report did not examine why the maternal mortality rate declined, but the CDC has taken steps to support efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.
Among these are Hear Her, which is a national campaign that shares messages about signs and symptoms during and after pregnancy that warrant seeking urgent medical care.
Additionally, the CDC conducts national surveillance through the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, which is used to better understand the risk factors for and causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S.
Psilocybin mushrooms stand ready for harvest in a humidified “fruiting chamber” in the basement of a private home on July 28, 2023 in Fairfield County, Connecticut. (John Moore/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday It’s issuing national priority vouchers to three companies to help fast-track the review of certain psychedelic medications.
The companies are studying psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder and methylone for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
These vouchers mean the FDA has 60 days to review the medications for approval.
“These medications have the potential to address the nation’s mental health crisis, including conditions like treatment-resistant depression, alcoholism and other serious mental health and substance abuse conditions,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said in a press release.
“As this field moves forward, it is critical that their development is grounded in sound science and rigorous clinical evidence,” the statement continued. “We owe it to our nation’s veterans and all Americans who are suffering from these conditions to evaluate these potential therapies with urgency.”
The agency also announced it is allowing an early phase clinical study of noribogaine hydrochloride, the principal psychoactive substance of the drug ibogaine, to move forward following an Investigational New Drug submission.
This is the first time the FDA has allowed a clinical study in the U.S. of a derivative of ibogaine, which is derived from the African Tabernanthe iboga shrub, the press release said.
Noribogaine hydrochloride is being investigated as a potential treatment for alochol use disorder, according the FDA.
The FDA also said it intends “to release final guidance imminently to provide recommendations to sponsors developing these products” which will include recommendations for study design, data collection and patient monitoring.
“There is a growing recognition of the potential of psychedelic medications to address multiple different psychiatric conditions that are notoriously difficult to treat,” said Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “At the FDA we are showing our support of investigating the safety and efficacy of this class of drugs through today’s actions.”
The announcement comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order over the weekend directing the FDA to expedite its review of certain psychedelics.
The order aims to accelerate research and approval of psychedelic-based therapies to help treat mental health conditions including PTSD, depression and addiction.
Currently, there are no classic psychedelic drugs approved for routine psychiatric care in the U.S.
A multitude of studies have suggested that psychoactive drugs, including cannabis, ketamine, psilocybin and midomafetamine (MDMA), may help treat PTSD and other mental health disorders.
However, most of these drugs are classified as Schedule I, meaning they have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
A 24-person 2022 study from John Hopkins Medicine followed patients with moderate to severe major depressive disorder who received psilocybin-assisted treatment for up to a year. Psilocybin is the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms.
Researchers found antidepressant effects from psilocybin and supportive psychotherapy may last at least a year in some patients. Administration required close monitoring in a controlled setting with a trained provider.
MDMA has shown some early promise in treating PTSD. However, in June 2024, a panel of independent advisers for the FDA voted against recommending approval of pharmaceutical version of MDMA — along with therapy — to treat the condition.
The Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee appeared to have doubts about the safety and efficacy of the treatment, with the majority voting “no” on questions of data showing the drug is effective and that the benefits of MDMA outweigh the risks for the treatment of patients with PTSD.
Methylone is a synthetic stimulant related to MDMA that affects mood and energy but carries risks of addiction, heart strain, and other serious side effects.
ABC News’ Liz Neporent contributed to this report.
Kids eating lunch at school (Tetra Images/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As President Donald Trump’s administration touts its new federal dietary guidelines, experts and officials suggest there’s a long road ahead before America’s students have healthier school meals.
With the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services partnering to address chronic disease — aiming to place whole, nutrient-dense food at the center of diets — the administration believes it has taken a major step toward solving America’s youth health crises.
From Secretaries Brooke Rollins and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, there’s a full-scale push to make school meals healthier by next school year, but the USDA’s former Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Cindy Long said their changes won’t happen “overnight.”
Long — who was USDA’s Deputy Administrator for Child Nutrition under former President Barack Obama and during President Donald Trump’s first term — told ABC News the Healthy-Hunger Free Kids Act, which is the school meals bill that was signed into law in 2010, ignited a shift to healthier school meals over a decade ago.
Celebrating the newest dietary guidelines, the foundation of dozens of federal feeding programs, including school meals, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has said that her agency is submitting its proposed school meals rule by mid-spring. Meanwhile, implementing the meals in U.S. classrooms will see delays after the updated regulations, some health policy experts noted.
Dr. David Ludwig, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, suggested the changes may take a while both in practice and culture.
“We have to address this on many levels,” Ludwig told ABC News, adding, “First, improving the guidelines that regulate food quality in schools. That’s foundational.”
Ludwig echoed the Trump administration’s 2025-2030 guidelines, which are updated every five years, emphasizing that new school meal ingredients must reduce sugar and other processed carbohydrates and increase whole foods.
“Layer two is adequate funding so that not only healthful but delicious foods can be prepared,” he said, adding, “It’s critical for children to understand that we don’t want to raise a generation that thinks healthy foods are going to be just bland.”
Updates will be made through formal rulemaking, the government’s multi-step process that includes opportunities for public comment, to ensure USDA supports children’s access to nutritious, high-quality meals at school, according to a USDA spokesperson.
However, Long told ABC News that some of the President Joe Biden administration’s changes to reduce added sugar and sodium to school meals are still being implemented.
“You can’t change this enormous system with 100,000 schools operating overnight,” she said, adding “You’ve got to allow time for people to be successful, for people to change menus, for them to procure the right products, for industry to be able to produce products that will help them bring down the sodium, bring down the added sugar etc.”
White House Senior Advisor Calley Means told ABC News there will be a “flurry” of regulation changes this year that will bolster kids’ meals at school. He bemoaned critics’ concerns that the administration lacks the funding to make the necessary changes.
“The government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on food procurement,” he said, adding, “We do not have a budget issue. There’s been a political will problem that President Trump and Bobby Kennedy and Brooke Rollins have solved. There’s care about this issue. We’re going to be driving common sense solutions.”
Parental control over school meals
University of Illinois Professor of Nutrition Dr. Donald Layman believes promoting healthier meal options — like increased protein and the subtraction of ultra-processed foods — signals a “total sea change” for parents.
“I think it gives parents a different structure,” he told ABC News, adding, “They’ve been told that, well, eggs were bad for you, or that meats were bad for you, and they’re left not knowing what to give their kids.”
“I’ve always felt that the issue was, how do we empower parents to do what they know is right, but they’ve been told they shouldn’t do,” Layman added.
Hilary Boynton — a California mom and former head of nutrition services at her kids’ school — said, “people are starting to recognize that they have agency over their own health and [they can] be empowered by that.”
In Summer Barrett’s home state of West Virginia, a mom who says she’s a part of the Make America Healthy Again Movement, said she’s grown frustrated with school meals containing excess amounts of sugar in Dunkin’ Stix Donuts breakfasts.
“You’re giving them 52 grams of sugar, and then you send them to class and you wonder, ‘oh, why can’t you sit still,’” Barrett said. “Why can’t you learn? Why can’t you focus?” Well, cause you just jacked them up on more sugar than they should have in an entire day,” she added.
The new guidelines may signal that school meal changes are to come, thanks to MAHA moms like Barrett who have been “hungry for this nutrition science for a long time,” according to FDA Commissioner Makary. Makary and Kennedy have already started visiting schools to help promote programs that serve scratch-cooked meals with Whole Foods like fruits and vegetables.
Meanwhile, Cindy Long told ABC that the administration’s changes will only build on prior policy wins.
“I’m hoping that this will just continue on the path of, sort of, continuing to make school meals stronger and stronger,” she said.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon testifies during the House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill into law on Monday banning abortion in the state after a “fetal heartbeat” has been detected.
HB 126, or the Human Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion once cardiac activity is identified, which is around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
If cardiac activity is detected, an abortion can only be performed in the case of a medical emergency, meaning if the life of the mother is in danger or if continuing the pregnancy would cause serious or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, according to the bill.
The bill does not include exceptions for pregnancies as a result of rape or incest.
Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the act will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, according to the bill.
“Today I signed the Human Heartbeat Act into law, reaffirming my view that life is sacred. I resoundingly share the determination to defend the lives of unborn children and support the intentions behind the Human Heartbeat Act,” Gordon wrote in a post on X on Monday.
Previously, abortion was allowed in Wyoming until fetal viability, which occurs between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation.
Wyoming is now the fifth state at least to have a “heartbeat ban” following bans enacted in Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina.
“This ban is an attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decisions, and it puts the health and well-being of our communities at risk,” Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, said in a statement.
“Every day that this law is in effect means people in our state will face even greater barriers to abortion care — and some may be denied this care altogether,” the statement continued. “With so many across Wyoming already struggling to access reproductive health care, restrictive policies like these take us further in the wrong direction.”
Burkhart said Wellspring Health Access is prepared to challenge the ban in court and will continue to work with regional and national partners to help patients access the care they need.
Gordon wrote in the post on X that he was concerned the bill was “well-intentioned” but would lead to a “fragile legal effort with significant risk of ending in the courts rather than in lasting, durable policy.”
Gordon suggested that voters should decide on the issue and that a question be placed on a ballot asking if an abortion ban should be cemented in the state constitution.
