ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC), an agency supposed to investigate cases of tragic tendencies in Georgia, has been disbanded and accused of leaking information to the press on an investigation.

Georgia consistently ranks at or near the top in the nation in maternal mortality rates. The mortality review committee is made up of 32 members, mostly obstetricians/gynecologists, doulas and other healthcare professionals and administrators charged with collecting data and investigating the reasons behind the high mortality figures. Georgia.

But earlier in November, the Georgia Department of Public Health sent a letter to members, warning them that they had been fired and would be replaced.

“Confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside parties,” read the letter, signed by state Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey. “Therefore, with immediate effect, the current MMRC is dissolved and all member seats will be filled through a new application process.”

The leak was likely linked to the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two Georgia women who were denied abortion care and died in childbirth. The committee ruled their deaths “preventable” around the same time the nonprofit media outlet ProPublica published an article citing the report.

The state did not say how long it would take to fill the now vacant seats, although it wrote that the changes “will not result in a delay in the responsibilities of the MMRC.”

But families close to the case worry about what will happen in the absence of a standing committee.

Charles Johnson, who lost his wife Kira during childbirth and later founded the maternal health nonprofit 4Kira4Moms, said he felt anxious about the drastic change.

“We need to be very clear on the timeline and the process,” Johnson told Atlanta News First. “Not having a timeline is really confusing, isn’t it? The people of Georgia deserve better, the victims of maternal mortality in the state of Georgia deserve better.

For Johnson, it’s even more personal than the loss of his wife. Right after Kira’s loss, Johnson testified before the U.S. Congress, urging lawmakers to pass the Maternal Deaths Prevention Act. The law, which ultimately passed, requires the creation of maternal mortality review committees in all 50 states, funded by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“So we can better understand what exactly is causing this sky-high maternal mortality rate right here in Georgia,” Johnson said. “The Maternal Mortality Committee here in Georgia is a critical part of the work that needs to be done. So this is a truly sad day, not for my family and other families who have been impacted by the maternal mortality crisis, but for every family in the state of Georgia who hopes to bring life into this world.

“We are concerned and deeply alarmed by the decision of the Georgia State Public Health Commission to abruptly disband our Maternal Mortality Committee,” said Monica Simpson, executive director of the reproductive justice group Sister Song. “Without the efforts of the Georgia Maternal Mortality Committee, which investigated the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller, we would never have known that their deaths were preventable and a direct result of the deadly bans of abortion in Georgia.

“Now more than ever, we need in-depth, nonpartisan reporting to truly understand the impact and damaging and deadly harms of banning abortion. »

According to ProPublica, the Georgia committee’s most recent report found that of 113 pregnancy-related deaths between 2018 and 2020, 101 had at least a chance of being preventable.

“It’s important that we have this data and investigate,” Johnson said. “And it’s also important that families can have some clarity that they often don’t have when their world is turned upside down.”

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