A new government report claims COVID-19 led to a major increase in pregnancy or childbirth complications in the US last year.
The research was authored by the US Government Accountability Office and shows the crisis has disproportionately impacted Black and Hispanic women and that pregnancy-related deaths overall have spiked nearly 80 percent since 2018.
The report mentions COVID-19 being listed as a contributing factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year.
The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, and more pregnant or postpartum women were reporting symptoms of depression at a higher rate.