OBJECTIVE:To analyze deaths from external causes and undefi ned causes in women of childbearing age occurring during pregnancy and early postpartum. METHODS:The deaths of 399 women of childbearing age, resident in Recife, Northeastern Brazil, in the period 2004 to 2006, were studied. The survey utilized the Reproductive Age Mortality Survey method and a set of standardized questionnaires. Data sources included reports from the Institute of Legal Medicine, hospital and Family Health Strategy records and interviews with relatives of the deceased women. External causes of death during pregnancy were classifi ed according to the circumstance of death, using the O93 code (ICD) and maternal mortality ratios before and after the classifi cation were calculated. RESULTS:Eighteen deaths during pregnancy were identifi ed. The majority were aged between 20 and 29, had between 4 and 7 years of schooling, were black and single parents. Fifteen deaths were classifi ed using the O93 code as pregnancy related death (13 for homicide -code 93.7; 2 by suicide -code 93.6) and three were classifi ed as indirect obstetric maternal deaths (one homicide -code 93.7 and two by suicide -code 93.6). There was an average increment of 35% in the RMM after classifi cation. CONCLUSIONS:Deaths from undefi ned causes in and in early postpartumdid not occur by chance and their exclusion from the calculations of maternal mortality indicators only increases levels of underreporting.