An Ohio State University study found that national infant mortality rates rose after the U.S. Supreme Court removed national abortion protections.
In the months after the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the U.S. saw a 7% increase in infant mortality, and a 10% increase in mortality among babies with birth defects, the study found.
Parvati Singh, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology at Ohio State, believes the noticeably higher rate of mortality among babies with congenital or genetic defects may be because of abortion restrictions at the time.
“We think that abortion restrictions, especially severe ones that do not provide exceptions for maternal fetal indications, could result in gestation or pregnancies that are, you know, having fetal carrying fetuses incompatible with life,” Singh said.
Singh and co-author Maria Gallo, a professor of epidemiology at Ohio State, decided to conduct the national study after a study out of Texas found higher infant mortality rates after Texas’ 2021 ban on abortions during early pregnancy.
“The part that took me and Dr. Gallo a little bit by surprise at how consistent the results were, especially when it came to infant mortality with congenital anomalies,” Singh said of the two studies.
For their study, Singh and Gallo used a national birth outcomes database from 2018 to 2023.
They found that in that time period, infant mortality averaged 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. Mortality among babies with congenital anomalies averaged 1.3 deaths per 1,000 live births.
In the months following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, they noted around 250 more infant deaths per month than expected, and around 200 more deaths than expected for babies with genetic and chromosomal conditions.
“People might not expect abortion restrictions to affect them personally because they might not imagine that they, or a loved one, will face a situation in which they need an abortion,” Gallo said. “This analysis showed that restricting access to health care, including abortion services, can have wider harms than that anticipated.”
“I think that these kinds of policies may have consequences that have not been considered when the policy has been formulated or implemented,” Singh said.
Singh said increased mortality rates may also indicate an increase in other health conditions affecting surviving babies and mothers.
Both Singh and Gallo said it's unclear if infant mortality rates will remain high. Singh said it’s hard to predict trends because of the ever-changing, legal landscape of abortion access that varies from state to state.
Gallo said it’s possible rates will remain high in certain places.
“It is possible that increases in infant mortality will continue and that they will be concentrated in states in which abortion is illegal or is heavily restricted,” Gallo said.
Singh and Gallo said they would like to further study infant mortality rates. Singh noted that they didn’t look at individual states or factors like race or socioeconomic status.
Singh and Gallo’s research was published online this week on JAMA Pediatrics.
