A woman dies every 90 sec. from childbirth

NEW YORK, May 8 (UPI) -- An advocacy group says 90 percent of the 350,000 deaths of women during childbirth worldwide each year could be prevented.

Every Mother Counts notes $15 billion is spent on Mother's Day gifts in the United States annually and is trying to raise 1 percent of that amount to help save mothers' lives.

Christy Turlington Burns' group says it is trying to raise awareness and money via its Facebook page "Moms4MomsDay" at www.facebook.com/HaveMom-entum.

The group says:

-- 15 percent of all pregnancies result in a potentially fatal complication during labor or delivery.

-- Pregnancy is the biggest killer of girls ages 15-19 in the developing world.

-- For every woman who dies in childbirth, 20 more suffer from debilitating complications.

Every Mother Counts says a woman dies in child birth every 90 seconds and nine out of 10 maternal deaths are preventable, often through simple, common-sense, affordable solutions. The organization encourages cash donations as little as $5 and giving old cellphone to the group Hope Phones, which refurbishes old phones and donates the proceeds.