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I've always wondered this, but what condition jeopardizes the mother's health that can only be remedied by killing the baby?" Theres many reasons women die from childbirth. Also mortality rates have increased, and many of the reasons are unknown.
According to 9 MMRC's the primary factors known prior to birth are preeclampsia, cardiomyopathy, blood disease, potential for hemorrhage, and coronary disease.
"Overall, there were seven leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death, accounting for 72.1% of all pregnancy-related deaths (Figure 4). In addition, there were at least 5 pregnancy-related deaths due to each of the following: amniotic fluid embolism (4.2%), homicide (3.3%), cerebrovascular accidents (2.8%), unintentional injury (2.8%), anesthesia complications (2.3%), and autoimmune diseases (2.3%). "
In the above section autoimmune diseases are typically known prior to childbirth and risk factors, when combined with consistent assessment, can be reliably calculated. Autoimmune factors should also be considered as a childbirth related mortality factor.
This covers circumstances only prior to birth and result in mortality during delivery, it doesn't include situations where both the mother and child will die. Also a number of others pregnancy related issues can kill the mother months after birth.
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pregnancy-mortali...