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In the year and a half since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which struck down federal abortion rights, hundreds more babies have died in the United States than expected, according to a new study. Many of these infants were born with abnormalities or birth defects.
Earlier Research Infant deaths in Texas will rise after a 6-week abortion ban takes effect in 2021, and experts say the new data suggests the effects of post-Dobbs bans and restrictions in some states are big enough to offset broader trends.
“This is evidence of a national ripple effect, regardless of the state level,” said Dr. Parvati Singh, assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University's College of Public Health and lead author of the new study.
In the new PaperPublished Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, Singh and co-author Dr. Maria Gallo, professor of epidemiology and associate dean of research at The Ohio State University College of Public Health, compared trends in infant mortality rates in the 18 months following the Dobbs decision.
They found that in the months after the Dobbs decision, infant mortality in the US had not fallen to levels that were higher than expected.
In the months with higher-than-expected infant deaths — October 2022, March 2023 and April 2023 — rates were about 7% higher than normal, resulting in an average of 247 more infant deaths each month.
About 80% of these additional infant deaths could be due to complications at birth, which were higher than expected in six of the 18 months after the Dobbs decision, the new study found. Congenital abnormalities can range from mild to severe cases, and some of the more common types can damage the baby's heart or spine. In some cases, babies with birth defects may only live for a few months.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Singh said. “Mortality is the end result of any health condition. This is a very, very urgent indicator. It can represent chronic pain and chronic problems.
Other studies have confirmed it Births have increased Experts in abortion-ban states say some of this increase is related to a disproportionate number of women carrying fetuses with life-threatening disabilities.
“Whether the pregnancy was wanted or not, we know that many of these pregnancies would have ended in miscarriage if people had access to those services,” said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive medicine. Science at the University of California, San Francisco. She wasn't involved in the new study, but she researches abortion trends in the US.
Experts say the abortion ban will affect access to a wide range of health services, increasing the risks for both babies and mothers.
“The safety of a pregnant woman is inextricably linked to the safety of the pregnancy,” said Upadhyay. Abortion restrictions can affect willingness to seek prenatal care and broader support systems and barriers, she says.
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“People who face the most structural barriers of poverty, low education, food insecurity, and other life-threatening conditions are less likely to access abortion care, and these factors increase the risk of poor pregnancy and birth outcomes,” she said.
Infant mortality includes deaths that occur before a baby is born, so it's hard to tell exactly what's going on in the months that are longer than expected, Singh said. But the time – four, nine and 10 months after the decision of Dobbs – when congenital abnormalities in the fetus can be detected and lined up throughout the pregnancy.
“These studies are signaling that people are not getting the care they need,” said Dr. Alison Gemmell, a demographer and perinatal epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. The relationship between rising infant mortality and abortion restrictions in Texas. “It will never be the case that everyone can overcome the obstacles of these restrictions.”