New Study Confirms That the Texas Abortion Ban “Is Responsible” for a Rise in Infant Deaths

As reported in The Nation, researchers are claiming that the stark rise in infant deaths in Texas was directly caused by the enactment of the state’s abortion ban that took effect in 2021.

The July 9 article cites a new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University that reported a 13% increase in Texas infant deaths in 2022 and a 23% increase in infant deaths from fetal anomalies—even though that rate fell by 3.1 percent for the rest of the country. 

Texas’s law, S.B. 8—also known as the state’s “vigilante” abortion ban—prohibits abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. It has no exception for fatal fetal anomalies, which are typically diagnosed later than six weeks. “Congenital anomalies—birth defects that can include fatal conditions of the heart, spine, and brain—lead the cause of death among infants,” reports the article.

Providing evidence of the law’s dire impacts, the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, claims a direct link between Texas’s abortion ban, S.B. 8, and the increased infant deaths.

“This study shows that the state policy is responsible for these deaths—there is a very, very strong causal link here,” Alison Gemmill, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health and one of the study’s lead authors, told The Nation in the piece, “New Study Confirms That the Texas Abortion Ban ‘Is Responsible’ for a Rise in Infant Deaths.” 

“It’s never been clearer that the term ‘pro-life’ is a farce,” Nicolas Kabat, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told The Nation. “Politicians are forcing women to carry doomed pregnancies and give birth to babies who will live only a few painful minutes or hours. This suffering is man-made—it’s being inflicted by Texas lawmakers.” 

The study’s findings come just weeks after the Texas Supreme Court reaffirmed that abortions are not allowed for fetal conditions, even lethal ones. The ruling means that people like Samantha Casiano—a Center plaintiff—will still be forced to continue doomed pregnancies against their will. 

Read the complete article:

• “New Study Confirms That the Texas Abortion Ban ‘Is Responsible’ for a Rise in Infant Deaths,”  The Nation, 07.09.24