Living in antiabortion states is dangerous to women and girls
30 April 2025
Here is more data on why it is dangerous for women and girls to live in the above antiabortion states:
The Gender Equity Policy Institute recently reported that Mothers Living in Abortion Ban States at Significantly Higher Risk of Death During Pregnancy and Childbirth.
Key Findings
Mothers living in states that banned abortion were nearly 2x as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth, compared to mothers living in supportive states where abortion was legal and accessible. 1
Maternal mortality fell 21% in supportive states (i.e. those without abortion bans) post-Dobbs. 2
Maternal mortality rose 56% in Texas in the first full year of the state’s abortion ban; up 95% among White women.
Black mothers living in banned states were 3.3x as likely to die as White mothers in those states.
Women’s risk of maternal death in Texas was 155% higher than in California.
Latina mothers in Texas faced nearly triple the risk of maternal mortality as those in California. Source
In addition, the Guardian described 3 patient deaths in antiabortion states as reported in March 2025 in the journal, Chest.
“This study clearly demonstrates the immediate and widespread harm that abortion bans are having on pregnant people. Even in states with ‘exceptions’ to the abortion ban, doctors’ hands are tied until it is too late and severe outcomes, including preventable death are happening,” said Dr Caitlin Bernard, an Indiana based obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive and abortion rights activist.
Bernard added: “While some cases are deemed newsworthy, these daily injuries and deaths are not even counted, much less made public. Nobody will ever know how many women have been harmed or died because of abortion bans preventing appropriate medical care.”
When choosing where to live, it's important to consider many factors, including the healthcare that the women and girls in your family will receive.
My related essays are listed below and here:
Dangerous state advisory for women and girls - Georgia, 29 March 2025
Dangerous state advisory - Louisiana, 13 February 2025
Antiabortion states decide not to take the temperature, 11 December 2024
Conservatives Want to End 'Exceptions' for Women’s Lives, 25 November 2024
Red states may be dangerous to your health, 30 September 2024
How red states are torturing pregnant women, 25 October 2023
The index to my prior essays (mostly post 5 November 2024) is here.
I have another blog on Cancer and Medicine.
You can also follow me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nat-pernick-8967765/ (LinkedIn), npernickmich (Threads and Instagram) and natpernick.bsky.social (Bluesky).
Email me at Nat@PathologyOutlines.com.
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to make it worse, the project 2025 folks are encouraging women to have more children - considering giving monetary rewards as well as national recognition... at a time when it is more dangerous than ever to be pregnant in these repressive states.