No mother should die giving life. Yet the U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world, and it’s getting worse.

A new study from the New York Times shows nearly one-third of maternal deaths happen after six weeks postpartum, when most moms are told they’re in the clear. Heart disease, mental health conditions, and substance use are major causes, striking hardest between six weeks and a year after birth, when support often disappears.

We were just starting to understand these dangers, until the CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health, which tracked and studied maternal deaths, was dismantled under the Trump administration.

Their work was saving lives. Now, it’s been silenced.

This isn’t political. Women are dying because care ends too soon, Medicaid coverage is cut off, and follow-up falls through. Black, Native, and Indigenous mothers are suffering most.

We demand the restoration of the CDC’s maternal health division and full funding for research and care that supports moms throughout the first year postpartum.

The science is clear. The solutions exist. What’s missing is action.

Let’s fix this—before more mothers are lost.