The Texas law that bans early pregnancy abortions is linked to a significant rise in infant deaths, a new study has revealed.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, compared infant death rates in Texas from 2018 to 2022 with those in 28 other states. The data mentioned deaths of newborns 28 days or younger and infants up to 12 months old.
In Texas, infant deaths increased by almost 13% in the year after Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8) was passed, rising from 1,985 in 2021 to 2,240 in 2022. Nationwide, infant deaths rose by about 2% during the same period.
Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8) was passed in 2021, banning abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat was detected, which can be as early as five weeks. This law effectively stopped most abortions in the state, which previously allowed them up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Furthermore, the law did not make exceptions for congenital anomalies that would cause a newborn to die soon after birth. This increased to babies being born with congenital anomalies by nearly 23% in Texas. However, the numbers have decreased by about 3% nationwide.
Assistant professor of population, family and reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Alison Gemmill, who led this research, said, "This is pointing to a causal effect of the policy; we didn't see this increase in infant deaths in other states," NBC News reported.
Some congenital anomalies can be fixed after a baby is born, such as a cleft palate or certain heart problems. However, other defects are so severe that the baby cannot survive.
Senior policy analyst of maternal health at the National Partnership for Women & Families Nan Strauss said, "The specific increase in deaths attributable to congenital anomalies really makes an ironclad link between the change in the law and the terrible outcomes that they're seeing for infants and families."
"The women and families have to suffer through an excruciating later part of pregnancy, knowing that their baby is likely to die in the first weeks of life."
Chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts Medical Center Dr. Erika Werner noted that the death percentage was increasing because "for each of these pregnancies, that's a pregnant person who had to stay pregnant for an additional 20 weeks, carrying a pregnancy that they knew likely wouldn't result in a live newborn baby."
Werner and Strauss were not involved in the research.
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