I AM VINDICATED:  Three years ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on maternal mortality that claimed, among other absurdities, that maternal mortality rates had worsened in the United States over the last 30 years, quoting with approval a witness who said the rates were up a whopping 50% in just a generation (as well as other alarming, but obviously incorrect statistics).

I wrote a dissent and pointed out that, in reality, this so-called “increase” was almost certainly an artifact of a significant change in the way deaths were classified.  This change had been phased in over a number of years.  It required the deaths of women who had been recently pregnant to be looked at more closely to see if the pregnancy might have been a contributing factor.

A new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that I was right.  It was obvious.  But obvious things that don’t fit the Commission’s narrative get ignored.

The more interesting (and true!) story here is how maternal deaths are down 99% since about 1900.  Thanks go to Alexander Fleming (penicillin), Vincent du Vigneaud (oxytocin), researchers at Merck & Co. (methyldopa), and other physicians and researchers who have furthered our knowledge over the course of almost 125 years.  May that progress ever continue.