11 of 30 Wyoming pregnancy deaths preventable

CASPER — The Wyoming Maternal Mortality Review Committee has released updated maternal mortality data for the first time since 2023.

Formed in 2025, the committee’s new fact sheet includes data through 2023—extending beyond previous state reports, which stopped at 2020.

In 2020, Wyoming and Utah partnered to create a joint MMRC, funded through a CDC grant administered by the Utah Department of Health.

“The partnership capitalizes on the Utah MMRC’s 18 plus years of experience and includes specialty providers (e.g. maternal fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, obstetric subspecialists) that Wyoming does not have due to its small population,” according to the 2023 report published on the Wyoming Health Department’s website.

According to the WDH, the MMRC meets every two months to review deaths of pregnant women or those who were pregnant within the past year.

The committee evaluates whether a death was pregnancy-related, identifies its underlying cause and assesses whether it could have been prevented.

From 2018 to 2023, the committee reviewed 30 pregnancy-associated deaths, according to the new fact sheet. The report notes that some cases may be missed depending on how deaths are recorded on certificates.

Of the cases reviewed, 47% were determined to be directly related to pregnancy.

“The 2018-2023 Wyoming pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 37.5 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births. For comparison, the 2023 US pregnancy-related mortality ratio was 18.7 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births. It should be noted that the Wyoming rate is based on counts less than 20 and should be interpreted with caution,” according to the fact sheet.

Three people died from hemorrhage, three from amniotic fluid embolisms, and six from mental health-related conditions.

The committee found that 11 of the deaths could have been prevented.

“A death is determined to be preventable if there was at least some chance it could have been avoided with reasonable changes to patient, family, provider, facility, system, and/or community factors,” according to the fact sheet.

The committee also assessed whether any of four factors— obesity, mental health conditions, substance use disorders, or discrimination—may have contributed to the deaths.

A death may involve none, one, or multiple of those contributing factors.

The committee identified discrimination in two cases, substance use disorder in seven cases, mental health conditions in seven cases, and obesity in two cases.

The fact sheet provides fewer details than the 2023 report, which included common case themes, prevention opportunities, and the committee’s recommendations.

This story was published on May 5, 2026.