The shocking conclusions of a new study on the impact of the US Supreme Court’s decision to remove the federal guarantee of the right to abortion are shocking.
With many states introducing bans, infant mortality has soared. This is mainly due to congenital anomalies, the report states.
The chronicle
Ending this right, recognized for half a century by women, in June 2022 the Supreme Court, with a clear conservative majority following the appointment of three judges by former president Donald Trump (2017-2021), gave the states the jurisdiction to legislate on this specific issue. Since then, at least 20 of them have imposed severe restrictions or outright bans on abortion procedures.
The issue dominates this year’s election campaign. On November 5th, American men and women are also invited to decide whether to guarantee the right to abortion in 10 states.
The new study, conducted by Maria Gallo and Parvati Singh of Ohio State University and published online in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, analyzes database data on the effects of abortion restrictions. The findings are consistent with two other studies published earlier this year, unique to the state of Texas, where abortion is now prohibited, even in cases where the pregnancy is the result of incest or rape.
7% above the mortality rate
In the months following the Supreme Court ruling, “infant mortality in the US was much higher than we expected,” Maria Gallo, an epidemiology professor specializing in reproductive health, told AFP.
In October 2022, March 2023 and April 2023, the infant mortality rate was 7% higher than usual at national level, with 247 additional deaths in each of those months. In most of them, deaths were attributed to congenital anomalies.
These are “cases in which, before the Supreme Court’s decision, it would have been possible to have an abortion instead of completing the pregnancy and (the parents) experiencing the death of their child”, emphasized Mrs. Gallo.
The next step for the two researchers will be to determine whether this increase occurred in all states or was concentrated in those that imposed restrictions on access to abortion.
“There is a broader human aspect to consider, including the mental health consequences” when women are not allowed to have an abortion, when they are forced “to carry to term a pregnancy in which the fetus has a fatal congenital anomaly” , observed Parvati. Singh.
Sources: APE – BEE, AFP