(CNN) -- Deaths from pregnancy and childbirth in the United States have doubled in the past 20 years, a development that a human rights group called "scandalous and disgraceful" Friday.





In addition, the rights group said, about 1.7 million women a year, one-third of pregnant women in the United States, suffer from pregnancy-related complications.





Most of the deaths and complications occur among minorities and women living in poverty, it noted.





Amnesty International issued a report Friday that calls on President Obama to take action.





"This country's extraordinary record of medical advancement makes its haphazard approach to maternal care all the more scandalous and disgraceful," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA.





"Good maternal care should not be considered a luxury available only to those who can access the best hospitals and the best doctors. Women should not die in the richest country on earth from preventable complications and emergencies," Cox said in a news release.





The report, "Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA," notes that the lifetime risk of maternal deaths is greater in the United States than in 40 other countries, including virtually all industrialized nations.





The report also noted that severe pregnancy-related complications that nearly cause death -- known as "near misses" -- have increased by 25 percent since 1998.





Up to 40 percent of near misses are considered preventable with better quality of care, according to a 2007 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.





Minorities, women living in poverty, Native Americans, immigrants and those who speak little or no English are particularly affected, Amnesty International said.





"The thing that really struck us was that these problems hit women of color, low-income, particularly hard," said Nan Strauss, researcher and co-author of the Amnesty report. "But every woman who is going through pregnancy in this country is at risk."





Figures compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, show that black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than their white counterparts.





White women have a mortality rate of 9.5 per 100,000 pregnancies, the CDC said. For African-American women, that rate is 32.7 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies.





"This has been known for a while and no one has a good handle on it," said Dr. Elliot Main, chairman and chief of obstetrics at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. "This is a national disgrace and a call to action. Both numbers are a call to action -- maternal mortality and racial disparity."





The CDC analysis shows that deaths during pregnancy and childbirth have doubled for all U.S. women in the past 20 years.





In 1987, there were 6.6 deaths for every 100,000 pregnancies. The number of deaths had climbed to 13.3 per 100,000 in 2006, the last year for which figures were available.





A report called "Healthy People 2010" by the Department of Health and Human Services says that number should be around four deaths for each 100,000 pregnancies.





Statistics for other highly industrialized countries show that the U.S. goal of four deaths for every 100,000 pregnancies is attainable. Great Britain, for example, has fewer than four deaths for each 100,000 pregnancies, Main said.





"Women's health is at risk," said Strauss. "We spend the most, and yet women are more likely to die than in 40 other countries. And that disconnect is what makes it such a problem."





Amnesty International points out that nearly 13 million U.S. women of reproductive age (15 to 44 years old), or one in five, do not have health insurance. Minorities account for 32 percent of all women in the United States but 51 percent of uninsured women, the rights group said.





Furthermore, Amnesty International said, one in four women do not receive adequate prenatal care, starting in the first trimester. The number rises to about one in three for African-American and Native American women, the human rights group said.





Amnesty International also cited what it
what is Whites' mortality rate? women are more liekly to what who  are more likely to die than in 40 other countries? what is black's mortality rate? when was this report released what country are they talking about what does report call for
9.5 per 100,000 suffer from pregnancy-related complications. pregnant women 32.7 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies. Friday United States President Obama to take action.
question: what is Whites' mortality rate?, answer: 9.5 per 100,000 | question: women are more liekly to what, answer: suffer from pregnancy-related complications. | question: who  are more likely to die than in 40 other countries?, answer: pregnant women | question: what is black's mortality rate?, answer: 32.7 deaths per 100,000 pregnancies. | question: when was this report released, answer: Friday | question: what country are they talking about, answer: United States | question: what does report call for, answer: President Obama to take action.