Significant rates of maternal morbidity and mortality persist in the United States, “alongside great racial and ethnic disparities,” and new data show how firearm access further widens those gaps during pregnancy and after childbirth. A recent study summarized in Contemporary OB/GYN reports that 46.4% of women killed were Black, even though Black women represent a much smaller share of the overall population, underscoring how lethal violence in pregnancy is concentrated in communities of color. Investigators noted that women in the study were 36.3% White and 2.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, with homicide risks layered on top of existing inequities in maternal health.
Pregnant women experienced an all-cause homicide rate of 49.16 per 1,000,000 live births, compared with 39.05 per 1,000,000 for nonpregnant women of reproductive age, with firearms involved in 78.6% of homicides among pregnant women. Over half of pregnancy-associated deaths were linked to firearms in 29 of 33 states examined, and “a 6% rise in pregnancy-associated all-cause homicide was reported for every 1% increase in state-level firearm ownership, alongside an 8% increase in firearm homicide.”
After adjusting for sex, age, poverty, insurance coverage, unemployment, and population density, firearm ownership remained “the only state-level factor significantly linked to pregnancy-associated homicide.” Study authors concluded that “preventing homicide during pregnancy will require urgent and coordinated actions from policymakers, public health advocates, and health care systems to address this leading cause of death in pregnant women.” For Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities already facing disproportionate maternal risks, the study’s findings sharpen calls for policy responses that directly confront firearm access and structural drivers of violence.
See: “Firearm ownership linked to increased pregnancy-related homicide risk” (November 18, 2025)
