arlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a startling new statistic about pregnancy and death. Deaths related to pregnancies are on the rise. A young woman now is twice as likely to die giving birth than her mother was. These types of death are still rare — 17 out of 100,000 — but the rate is rising. And the risk doubles again if you're Black, Native American or an Alaskan native. Utah isn't immune. But here, opioids come into play. A new study done by the University of Utah Health's Dr. Marcela Smid found that, most often, drug overdose is what causes Utah's pregnant women and new moms to die. And the worst offender is opioids.