(NewsNation) — Researchers are blaming an increase in infant deaths in the state of Texas on the state’s abortion ban in a study released Monday.
Between 2021 and 2022, infant deaths rose from 1,985 to 2,240 in Texas, according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study.
It’s a 12.9% increase in infant deaths in the state compared to a 1.8% increase in infant deaths in the rest of the country during the same period.
Alison Gemmil, one of the study’s lead authors, said that this study is “particularly relevant” given the second anniversary of the June 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson.
“These findings suggest that restrictive abortion policies may have important unintended consequences in terms of infant health and the associated trauma to families and medical costs,” Gemmil said.
Texas Senate Bill 8 was passed in September 2021. This law bans abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which can be as early as five weeks.
The bill did not allow exceptions for congenital abnormalities, which are the leading cause of infant death.
There was a 22.9% increase in infant deaths attributable to congenital anomalies in Texas between 2021 and 2022, according to the study.
