Abstract
Statistics covering deaths directly due to pregnancy in the Commonwealth of Australia have been available since the turn of the century. However, those for deaths associated with pregnancy have not. Over the past two decades each State in the Commonwealth has set up Maternal Mortality Committees to collect confidential information on each maternal death, both direct (where the death is directly attributable to pregnancy or childbirth) and associated (where the death is associated with but not directly due to pregnancy or childbirth). New South Wales had set up the first such Committee in the 1930's, and this has since been followed by the other States. Most of the States have published reports from time to time but, owing to the small numbers involved, these reports have been limited in the conclusions that could be made. Confidential information on each maternal death is obtained and is considered by the State Maternal Mortality Committee. The cause of death is confirmed and classified. A necropsy is usually performed in each instance, the pathologist travelling to the town where the death has occurred, if requested.