According to National Review, the study was published in the Journal of American Medical Association. Researchers calculated quarterly maternal mortality rates from every state and Washington, D.C. for every year from 2018 to 2023. They looked at over 22 million births and examined 12,000 pregnancy related deaths.
The research found that maternal mortality was decreasing in states with strong pro-life laws. In fact, the maternal mortality rate declined faster in these states than in those with lenient abortion policies.
Texas, for example, saw its maternal mortality decline by 2.4%. This was after it enacted the Heartbeat Law in 2021, which banned abortion once the unborn baby’s heartbeat was detected.
Pro-life activist Dr. Michael New, an assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, spoke with AFN.
"Other pro-life states saw their maternal mortality rate decline by 3.3%," says New. "So, you see this downward trajectory, and that's a positive element. It does show that good pro-life laws can go hand in hand with good public health."
He said that people who support legal abortion have tried very hard to make the case that, if you pass pro-life laws, it's going to create bad public health outcomes.
"They've claimed that, since Dobbs, there's been an increase in maternal mortality in pro-life states," says New, who wrote a related op-ed for National Review. "They've cherry picked a couple of data points out of Texas, they've come up with some anecdotes, but we have a study that debunks that."
New’s op-ed is titled “Re: False Prophecies about Dobbs.” In the article, he explained how Jessica Valenti, a feminist writer, author and activist, claimed that Texas' maternal mortality rate increased by 56% when they enacted an abortion ban. However, New refuted that, showing that it fell more than 35% after the ban was put into effect.
