From overturning Roe v. Wadeinfant mortality rates in the United States have risen significantly since abortion bans took effect, according to a new study.
The study — published Oct. 21 in JAMA Pediatrics — analyzed infant mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2018 and compared it with infant mortality rates 18 months after Dobbs v. Jackson ruling.
Dobbs v. Jackson the decision of the Supreme Court from June 2022, which was annulled, is significant Roe v. Wadewhich gave women the right to an abortion in every state.
Researchers found that after the ruling, overall infant mortality increased by 7% and increased by 10% for infants with disabilities. Also, about 80% of these additional infant deaths can be attributed to congenital abnormalities.
Congenital anomalies can range from mild to severe, and in some cases babies may survive for only a few months. The most common types can affect the baby’s spine or heart.
The US infant mortality rate has ‘significantly’ increased for the first time in 20 years
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Alison Gemmill, a perinatal epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, said Los Angeles Times that these findings show that the Dobbs decision prevented women from terminating pregnancies that would otherwise have ended in abortion, similar to her research.
She recently led a more focused study in Texas that showed an increase in infant mortality rates after the state banned abortion.
“Prior to these abortion bans, people had the ability to terminate an abortion if the fetus was found to have a serious congenital anomaly — we’re talking about organs that are outside the body and other things that are very serious and incompatible with life,” Gemmill told the outlet. However, if women in such situations had no choice but to continue with the pregnancy, “those babies would die shortly after birth.”
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dr. Parvati Singh, assistant professor of epidemiology and lead author of the new study, explained that the findings at the national level mirror those from the state-level research, calling it a “national ripple effect.”
“This research provides preliminary evidence of the adverse consequences of federal abortion restrictions in terms of infant mortality outcomes,” Singh said. MedPage Today.
“I’m not sure people expected the infant mortality rate to increase after that Dobbs. It’s not necessarily what people were thinking. But when you limit access to health care, it can cause a broader impact on public health than one might predict,” said Dr. Maria Gallo, professor of epidemiology and co-author of the study.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education