US infant mortality rises in states with abortion bans, study finds

Infant mortality rates have increased in US states which have enacted abortion bans, a study has found.

Researchers estimate there were 478 infant deaths across 14 states which have outright bans or heavy restrictions – which they say would not have occurred had the laws not been in place.

The rise comes after the US Supreme Court reversed a ruling in 2022 that made abortion up to foetal viability a national right, allowing individual states to decide on whether to allow the procedure.

Alison Gemmill, co-leader of the study, said “restrictive abortion policies” could be “reversing decades of progress” in reducing infant deaths across the US.

The study, published this week by researchers from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found an increase in mortality rates for babies born with congenital issues, as well as among groups where death rates already were higher than average.

This included black infants, as well as for babies whose parents were unmarried, younger, did not attend college, and for those living in southern states.

As of January 2025, 17 states have outlawed nearly all abortions, though some have narrow exceptions for cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother.

States with some form of total abortion ban are Idaho, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina ban the procedure beyond six weeks of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, there are bans in place in Nebraska and North Carolina for procedures after 12 weeks, while it is 18 weeks in Utah.

Sarah Corning, a staff attorney at civil rights organisation the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) of Texas, told the BBC that doctors and abortion care experts had warned that infant mortality would increase in these states after banning or restricting access to abortions.

She said OBGYNs were leaving Texas “because the laws prevent them from adequately treating their patients, and Texans and their babies suffer as a result”.

In the states which opted to enact the new laws, infant mortality rates increased to 6.26 per 1,000 live births, compared with an expected rate of 5.93 per 1,000 – a relative increase of 5.6%.

In the UK, the infant mortality rate is estimated at around 3.8 per 1,000 live births. Slovenia, Singapore and Iceland have among the world’s lowest infant mortality rates, at between 1.5-1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Afghanistan currently has the world’s highest rate, with an estimated 101.3 deaths every 1,000 live births.

The study also found an increase in the number of infant deaths in the US from congenital anomalies, rising from an expected 1.24 per 1,000 live births to 1.37 per 1,000 – a relative increase of 10.87%.

Mortality from other causes rose to 4.89 per 1,000 from an expected 4.69, a 4.23% increase.

Among non-Hispanic black infants, there were 11.81 deaths per 1,000 live births after the bans, compared to an expected rate of 10.66 per 1,000, an increase of nearly 11%.

According to the research, the increase in infant mortality due to congenital malformations was consistent with women being denied abortions for non-viable pregnancies – where a pregnancy cannot possibly result in a liveborn baby.

But the increase due to non-congenital causes “is less straightforward”, researchers say.

The study also found the ban may be disproportionately impacting disadvantaged populations who are already at a higher risk of infant mortality as well as delays in receiving medical care.

“When the state invades our hospital rooms, people are forced to carry fetuses with fatal abnormalities – and either experience a stillbirth or watch their baby die shortly after birth,” Ms Corning said.

“It is shameful that our states’ laws create such unnecessary physical and emotional harm.”

Separate research from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that abortion bans were also linked to increased fertility rates.

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade, which returned control over the procedure back to individual states, researchers found that the number of births per 1,000 reproductive-aged females in affected states rose by 1.7%, or 22,180.

The estimated differences in fertility were largest in states with among the “worst maternal and child health outcomes”, the research suggested.