Texas OKs bill to address its high maternal mortality rate

Texas lawmakers have voted to continue – and broaden the scope of – a task force on maternal mortality and morbidity, after a study found that the state had the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.

The Texas Senate late Tuesday unanimously approved House changes to a bill extending and bolstering the task force, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law.

The task force was created in 2013 and would now continue until 2023.

A University of Maryland-led study last year found that Texas’ maternal mortality rate doubled between 2010 and 2012 to the highest in the nation and the developed world, but offered no reason.

Republican in-fighting killed similar bills during the regular legislative session, but Abbott called a special session ending Wednesday.