A 2016 study reported that Texas' maternal mortality numbers were alarmingly high. According to the study, from 2010 to 2012 the number of maternal deaths occurring due to pregnancy-related issues skyrocketed from 72 to 148. The study made national headlines.
There was just one problem: those statistics are false.
The real number, for Texas in 2012, turns out to be 56—which, far from registering as a public health panic, actually represents a decline.
