“Knowledge is power,” the saying goes. Knowing what has contributed to the deaths of so many pregnant women and new mothers in Virginia in recent years empowers efforts to save more lives in the years ahead. Unfortunately, the future of an important means of gathering and analyzing that information is in doubt.

Virginia’s team that collects data about the deaths of mothers during and after pregnancy and childbirth is still in business for now, but it’s operating on borrowed time. While the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Team continues its vital work, state leaders must do all they can to ensure that work can continue after allocated federal money runs out next Aug. 31.

When Congress shut down the government Oct. 1 because members couldn’t agree on annual spending, it put money for a h

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