According to new research, more infants are drying since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“This is evidence of a national ripple effect, regardless of state-level status,” Dr. Parvati Singh, the lead author of a new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, said in an interview with CNN.
Singh and her co-author Dr. Maria Gallo’s 18-month-long study began after the Supreme Court Dobbs decision revoking a woman’s federal right to an abortion. CNN reported that “hundreds more infants died than expected in the United States” and that “the vast majority of those infants had congenital anomalies, or birth defects.”
The infant death rate in the U.S. was above normal for several months before the Dobbs decision, but in October 2022, March 2023 and April 2023, infant mortality was 7% above anticipated levels, which meant 247 more babies died during those months.
On top of that, birth defects were the main cause of 80% of those deaths. In some instances, the infant may have been born but only lived for a few months before succumbing to the shortcomings that typically alter the heart or spine.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Singh explained. “Mortality is the ultimate outcome of any health condition. This is a very, very acute indicator. It could be representative of underlying morbidity and underlying hardship.”
CNN also reported that births have increased in states with abortion bans. Experts believe it’s linked to a disproportionate rise in how many women are forced to carry fetuses with lethal congenital anomalies to term.
“Whether the pregnancy was wanted or unwanted, we know that many of these are pregnancies that would have ended in abortion had people had access to those services,” per Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science at the University of California, San Francisco.
Another result of the Dobbs decision is the impact on access to proper healthcare. With some women being afraid to enter a medical facility, mothers and babies are now at higher risk for experiencing health complications.
“The well-being of a pregnant person is inextricably linked to the well-being of the pregnancy,” Upadhyay said.
“People who face the most structural barriers in terms of poverty, lower levels of education, food insecurity, and other life stressors can’t access abortion care, and these factors also increase their risks of poor pregnancy and birth outcomes,” she added.
