Reconstituted Idaho Maternal Mortality Committee will release a new report by Jan. 31

The reconstituted Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee held its second meeting Friday in Boise and moved closer to releasing an upcoming annual report on maternal deaths.

The 12-member committee is made up of medical professionals and serves as an advisory body to the Idaho State Board of Medicine. The committee’s purpose is to identify, review and analyze maternal deaths to determine if the pregnancy was incidental to, or a contributing factor in, the mother’s death, according to the Idaho Board of Medicine’s website.

In 2023, Idaho became the only state in the country to not have a committee reviewing maternal deaths after the Idaho Legislature declined to renew the committee and allowed it to disband. In 2024, the Idaho Legislature reinstated the Maternal Mortality Review Committee through the passage of House Bill 399.

The Idaho Maternal Mortality Committee’s first meeting since being reauthorized by the Idaho Legislature took place Nov. 21.

During Friday’s committee meeting, members of the Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee participated in an orientation and training session and discussed the confidentiality involved in the work of reviewing maternal deaths.

Orin Duffin, the coordinator/executive officer for the Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee, said the committee’s purpose is to analyze maternal deaths in hopes of preventing future deaths – not to recommend disciplinary action, criminal prosecution or civil litigation in conjunction with past deaths.

“We do not go through and assign blame on the providers, the individuals that have passed away, or anyone else,” Duffin said during Friday’s meeting.

“Our goal is to prevent maternal deaths in the state of Idaho,” Duffin added.

By Jan. 31, the Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee will submit a report on 2023 maternal deaths to the Idaho Legislature, as required by law.

Idaho has a near total felony abortion ban, which does not include an exemption for the pregnant mother’s health. Before it was not renewed by the Idaho Legislature, the Idaho Maternal Mortality Committees’ last report found an increase in children and mothers dying in Idaho and concluded that most of the deaths were preventable.

On Friday, members of the Idaho Maternal Mortality Review Committee took part in a closed-door executive session to continue to review cases of maternal deaths in Idaho. Prior to Friday’s meeting, the committee had already reviewed seven of the 13 maternal death cases identified in 2023, the Sun previously reported.