AUSTIN, Texas — In the wake of Texas' abortion ban, the state's infant death rate increased and more died of birth defects, a study published Monday shows.
The analysis out of Johns Hopkins University is the latest research to find higher infant mortality rates in states with abortion restrictions.
The researchers looked at how many infants died before their first birthday after Texas adopted its abortion ban in September 2021. They compared infant deaths in Texas to those in 28 states — some also with restrictions. The researchers calculated that there were 216 more deaths in Texas than expected between March and December the next year.
In Texas, the 2022 mortality rate for infants went up 8% to 5.75 per 1,000 births, compared to a 2% increase in the rest of the U.S., according to the study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
“Families who have faced the loss of an infant because of a fatal anomaly, our hearts go out to them,” said Amy O’Donnell with Texas Alliance for Life.
Among causes of deaths, birth defects showed a 23% increase, compared to a decrease of about 3% in the rest of the U.S. The Texas law blocks abortions after the detection of cardiac activity, usually five or six weeks into pregnancy, well before tests are done to detect fetal abnormalities.
“I think these findings make clear the potentially devastating consequences that abortion bans can have,” said co-author Suzanne Bell, a fertility researcher.
Doctors have argued that the law is too restrictive toward women who face pregnancy complications, though the state’s Supreme Court last month rejected a case that sought to weaken it.
“It's heartbreaking, but we absolutely believe that it's wrong to discriminate against any baby based on a disability or a life-limiting diagnosis inside or outside the womb,” said O’Donnell.
Infant deaths are relatively rare, Bell said, so the team was a bit surprised by the findings. Because of the small numbers, the researchers could not parse out the rates for different populations, for example, to see if rates were rising more for certain races or socioeconomic groups.
But the results did not come as a surprise to Tiffany Green, a University of Wisconsin-Madison economist and population health scientist who studies the consequences of racial inequities on reproductive health. She said the results were in line with earlier research on racial disparities in infant mortality rates due to state differences in Medicaid funding for abortions. Many of the people getting abortions are vulnerable to pregnancy complications, said Green, who was not part of the research.
Stephen Chasen, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with Weill Cornell Medicine, said abortion restrictions have other consequences. Chasen, who had no role in the research, said people who carry out pregnancies with fetal anomalies need extra support, education and specialized medical care for the mother and newborn — all of which require resources.
Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, wasn’t shocked by the statistic, but he was upset. Allred spoke at an ex-abortion clinic in Austin on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which gave states the power to decide their own abortion laws.
“This is the end point and that’s what we’re experiencing here in Texas,” said Allred.
Allred is running for U.S. Senate and will face Sen. Ted Cruz in the general election. Cruz is a vocal supporter of the Texas abortion law. Allred wants to reverse it.
“We will codify Roe v. Wade,” he said. “What does that mean we will make Roe v. Wade back into law through legislation.”
O’Donnell says families who have infants diagnosed with fatal anomalies in the womb should carry that baby to term as long as there's no risk to the mother's life.
“Abortion doesn't remove the loss of life. It simply is a family trying to choose the time of that loss,” she said.
There is not an exception to the state’s abortion law to allow for abortions for babies with disabilities or fatal diagnoses. Republicans haven’t hinted adding more exceptions to the law.