Opinion: The deadly reality of abortion bans is unfolding in the US—like it once did in Ethiopia

US decision makers must lean on evidence to support better maternal outcomes for women—and that means reversing abortion bans, writes Abebe Shibru

BMJ 2025; 389 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1318 (Published 24 June 2025)
Abebe Shibru,, country director

I read with dismay and devastation a recent report from the Gender Equity Policy Institute. The report revealed that pregnant women living in US states with abortion bans are 2 times as likely to die than those in states where abortion care is legal and accessible.1 This grim reality was further compounded this month by the Trump administration’s withdrawal of emergency abortion guidance, stripping away critical federal protections that had ensured access to lifesaving care in urgent medical situations.

The US Supreme Court decided in 2022 to overturn the right to abortion and leave its legality up to individual states in the Dobbs v Jackson case. Three years on, this report is connecting the dots between the states that banned abortion and the knock on effect on maternal mortality. It’s yet another piece of global evidence pointing to the profound harm of abortion bans.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r1318

24.06.2025

Opinion

Abebe Shibru

Gender Equity Policy Institute

maternal mortality

MSI Reproductive Choices Ethiopia

USA – Three Years Later: No Fewer Abortions, But a Lot More Harm

The Medical Impact of Dobbs

Jessica Valenti
Jun 24, 2025

It’s been three years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, splitting the country into two Americas—one where abortion is still legal, and another a worsening reproductive police state.

…To give you all a bird’s-eye view of what America looks like under abortion bans, I’ve outlined three areas of impact: Medical, Legal, and Cultural. I’m sharing an analysis of the Medical Impact today, Legal tomorrow, and Cultural on Thursday. At the end of the week, I’ll share a link that contains all three sections.

Continued: https://jessica.substack.com/p/three-years-later-no-fewer-abortions

The CDC Hasn’t Asked States to Track Deaths Linked to Abortion Bans

The Biden administration hasn’t delivered on its goals of measuring the public health impact of abortion bans. Experts say it’s a missed opportunity to study how the laws may lead to deaths and long-term injuries.

by Kavitha Surana, Robin Fields and Ziva Branstetter
Dec. 20, 2024

After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order tasking the federal government with assessing the “devastating implications for women’s health“ of new state abortion bans.

Experts were warning that these bans would interfere with critical medical care and lead to preventable deaths. And the states that passed the laws had little incentive to track their consequences.

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/abortion-ban-deaths-cdc-maternal-health-care

Abortion bans are killing women — and states like Texas want to hide the truth

As the laws’ predictable harms come to light, anti-abortion groups want us to look away.

Dec. 3, 2024
By Susan Rinkunas

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision two and a half years ago, state abortion bans have restricted pregnant women’s access to emergency medical care. And as the predictable harms — up to and including death — come to light, some states are acting as if they want to hide them from the public.

…from 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal deaths in Texas increased by 56%, compared with 11% nationwide. But rather than investigate, the state is essentially admitting that the bodies are piling up faster than the state can address them. Its solution is not to dedicate more time and effort — like, perhaps, increasing the size of the 23-member committee — but to simply brush these women’s lives under the rug and skip ahead to 2024.

Continued: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/texas-georgia-women-deaths-abortion-ban-rcna182540

USA – The Abortion Battle Over Rising Deaths in Pregnant Women

BY KATHERINE FUNG
ON 3/24/23

A massive spike in U.S. maternal deaths has abortion-rights and anti-abortion groups debating the cause of the nation's most fatal odds for expectant mothers in more than half a century.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week said that maternal mortality—deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days after delivery—shot up by 40 percent in 2021. The figure reaffirms America's position as the most dangerous wealthy country to live in when pregnant or while giving birth.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/abortion-battle-over-rising-deaths-pregnant-women-1789982