Infant mortality in the United States has risen sharply, particularly due to birth defects, in the months since the Supreme Court revoked the federal guarantee of abortion rights, according to a new study released Monday.
Ending half a century of jurisprudence in June 2022, the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority since the appointment of three judges by Donald Trump, gave the federal states full latitude to legislate in this area.
At least 20 of them have since put in place partial or total restrictions on voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The issue is taking up a significant place in the presidential campaign, two weeks before the election in the United States. On November 5, Americans will also vote on whether states should guarantee the right to abortion in no fewer than ten of them.
This new study, led by Maria Gallo and Parvati Singh of Ohio State University and published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, analyzes a national database and its results on the consequences of abortion restrictions are consistent with those of studies published earlier this year in the state of Texas, where abortion is now prohibited, including in cases of incest or rape.
In the months following the Supreme Court's decision, "infant mortality in the United States has been higher than we expected," with national figures typically fairly stable with peaks and troughs related to predictable seasonal effects, Maria Gallo, a professor of epidemiology specializing in reproductive health, told AFP.
In October 2022, March 2023, and April 2023, infant mortality rates were 71% higher than usual nationally, with 247 additional deaths in each of those months. The majority of these deaths were attributed to congenital anomalies.
"These are cases in which, before the Supreme Court's decision, it would have been possible to abort rather than carry the pregnancy to term and have to witness the death of the child," Gallo said.
The next step for the researchers will be to establish whether this increase was observed in all states or whether it was concentrated in states that restricted access to abortion.
"There is a broader human toll to consider, including the mental health consequences of being denied an abortion or being forced to carry a pregnancy to term when the fetus has a fatal birth defect," Singh added.
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