A research to be published in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology has found a two-fold rise in the rate of pregnancy-related deaths in Texas from 2010 to 2012. The alarming figure is more concerning because it was during this same period that the funding for women’s health was severely cut in the state, according to the new study.

In 2012 alone, 148 Texas women died of pregnancy-related reasons, a count that stood at 72 deaths in 2010. The victims were either pregnant or died soon after getting pregnant. More worrisome is the fact that the rate in Texas jumped from 18 deaths per 100,000 births in 2006 to 36 deaths per 100,000 births in 2014.

According to the World Health Organization, the United States is the only developed nation across the globe where maternal deaths saw an increase between 1993 and 2013. The study authors say Texas is only an extreme snapshot of the US’ bigger maternal mortality problem.

Though developing countries account for 99% of maternal deaths, the US shares the maximum burden for the rest 1% deaths among developed nations. Afghanistan, Botswana and Chad are other countries that saw a considerable rise in maternal mortality during the same time period.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2007 has found that black women were two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related conditions than their white counterparts.

“There is sadly no magic bullet that explains what is behind the high levels of maternal mortality in the United States”, said Rachel Ward, managing director of research at Amnesty International US. “It is a combination of factors that speak to the systemic problems of failing to provide affordable, accessible, quality health services to all women in the United States”.

A report published in Dallas News informed, "In a new study, set to be published in the September issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers found that Texas experienced a dramatic increase in pregnancy-related deaths from 2010 to 2012. While the rest of the country also experienced an increase, no other state saw the rate nearly double like it did in Texas."

"We're really seeing this is a serious problem with maternal mortality," said Dr. Daniel Grossman, an OB-GYN who studies the effects of recent reproductive health legislation in Texas with the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas at Austin. "It really seems like that's where the state officials should be focusing on trying to improve health and safety."

The rise in pregnancy-related deaths in 2011 coincided with the beginning of major budget cuts in Texas. In September of that year, health care providers across the state began to feel the effects of a family planning budget reduced by two-thirds.

According to a report in Huffington Post by Erin Schumaker, "The pregnancy-related death rate in Texas nearly doubled between 2010 and 2012 ? the same time period that the state severely cut women's health funding, most notably at Planned Parenthood, according to a new study."

The research, which will be published in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that 148 Texas women died in 2012 from pregnancy-related causes, either while pregnant, or soon after being pregnant, up from 72 deaths in 2010. Similarly, the rate in Texas jumped from 18 deaths per 100,000 births in 2006 to 36 deaths per 100,000 births in 2014.

"There is sadly no magic bullet that explains what is behind the high levels of maternal mortality in the United States," Rachel Ward, managing director of research at Amnesty International U. S., previously told Al Jazeera. "It's a combination of factors that speak to the systemic problems of failing to provide affordable, accessible, quality health services to all women in the United States."