Senate bill would require annual maternal mortality studies; committee discussion rejects broad fetal‑death expansion

Senate File 1167, introduced by Senator McQuade, would require the Minnesota Department of Health to conduct an annual maternal death study and report trends and recommendations to the Legislature.

McQuade said the state’s last maternal mortality review covered 2017–2019 and that the bill would ensure the commissioner reports trends more frequently to guide policy. ‘‘If we're gonna tackle this problem and really reduce the number of preventable deaths ... we need good data,’’ McQuade told the committee.

Senators discussed a proposed amendment from Senator Lisky to expand the review to include fetal deaths. Committee members and department staff raised practical and medical concerns. Dr. Rachel McGraw, the MDH women’s health consultant who coordinates the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, said the review process is lengthy and that MDH was actively conducting reviews and preparing a report expected later in the spring. Senators noted that fetal death reporting already exists for deaths at 20 weeks or more and that routine miscarriages earlier in pregnancy are common and not feasible to study in the same way.

Senator Lisky withdrew the amendment after colleagues expressed concern that the proposed language could require invasive or impractical data collection on early miscarriages. Senator Mann and others emphasized a need to preserve the separate clinical and public health treatment of maternal and fetal outcomes.

Committee action: Senate File 1167 as amended was laid over for possible inclusion; no final passage vote occurred during this hearing.