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When my colleagues and I started digging around in CDC data on pregnancy-related deaths, we noticed something surprising: the rate of ectopic pregnancy deaths had more than doubled in recent years. Nearly 200 women died between 2020 and 2025. So we set out to learn why 🧵

We started reaching out to experts who study maternal health. Many were surprised by these numbers, and had the same questions we had — has the rate of ectopic pregnancy increased? Has access to care changed?

Ectopic pregnancy is rare, affecting ~1-2% of pregnancies — but most studies on prevalence and risk factors are decades old. These pregnancies happen when an embryo implants in the wrong place, like the fallopian tube. Untreated, they can lead to catastrophic bleeding and death.

“A death related to ectopic pregnancy should really be a never event,” Dr. Alice Abernathy told us. But that relies on access to care, the diagnosis of a rare condition early in pregnancy, at a time when someone may not even know she is pregnant, and speedy treatment.

Experts told us that chaos and access issues at hospitals during Covid likely contributed to at least some of the deaths; ectopic pregnancy care often happens in the emergency department. But the surge persisted even after the pandemic’s worst effects waned.

Most abortion bans include exemptions for ectopic pregnancies. But it can take time to get a definitive ultrasound image, even if there are other indicators that it is ectopic. Experts worry doctors are hesitating to offer treatment, which can increase risk to the mother.

In a state without an abortion ban, a patient and her doctor could weigh that diagnostic certainty against the risk of severe outcomes, and the mother could opt to terminate the pregnancy. In a state with a ban, that option may not exist.

Leitaea Lowrimore alleges that she was denied treatment for an ectopic pregnancy at 3 different hospitals across 2 states. “There were a few times I asked my husband if I was going to die,” she said in a lawsuit.