Women and children have suffered in states that have reduced access to reproductive care in the nearly three years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, reports show.
A groundbreaking ProPublica report in February analyzed pregnancy outcomes in Texas following the state’s 2021 abortion ban. In the four years since that policy went into place, sepsis rates for women hospitalized after losing pregnancies in their second trimester surged by more than half.
Sepsis is a potentially fatal condition that comes after a patient experiences an infection, and can cause serious inflammation, organ damage and septic shock. ProPublica found that the highest increases of sepsis were among pregnant women whose fetuses were not confirmed dead upon arriving at a hospital. The news source found that dozens of pregnant and postpartum women have died from sepsis in recent years, with sepsis rates rising by nearly 2% in just two years.
In 2021, 67 patients who lost pregnancies in the second trimester were diagnosed with sepsis; by 2023, the number rose to 99, and the publication indicated their figures represented an undercount.
Texas law is stringent enough that doctors sometimes delay care to a mother if their fetus still has a heartbeat, as anyone providing an abortion could receive a sentence of up to 99 years in prison, ProPublica found.
Abortion bans are also leading to more children born to underprivileged women and an increase in infant mortality rates. Another report, published in February in the JAMA medical journal, reported that states imposing strict abortion bans saw increases in fertility rates. States with six-week or complete abortion bans saw fertility rates rise by 1.7%.
The largest differences in fertility rates were seen in minority groups, those without college degrees and Medicaid recipients, with the report determining that people experiencing “structural disadvantage” were more likely to have a child or carry it to term.
“Abortion bans may lead to births among those who are unable to overcome barriers to abortion,” the report found.
A second medical study determined that states with abortion bans in place after Roe was struck down saw significantly higher infant mortality rates, especially notable for Black infants and those with birth defects.
Although these trends might be expected to spur greater oversight, several states have instead limited their review committees studying maternal mortality. The Texas Tribune reported that members of that state’s committee said state law limits their ability to analyze maternal deaths. Texas Democrats have filed legislation to increase review of these standards, some bills designed to specifically review trauma or miscarriage, but their passage is uncertain.
Other states have taken different approaches to those committees. In November 2024, Georgia dismissed all members of its maternal mortality review group after ProPublica reported on two deaths of pregnant women in the state. It is now keeping committee members’ identities secret. Additionally, in 2023, Idaho disbanded its review committee, later reauthorizing it in late 2024.
