Infant mortality increased after the Dobbs decision

TUESDAY, Oct. 22, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Infant mortality was higher than expected, both overall and among those with birth defects, for several months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationwhich nullified the constitutional right to abortion, according to an investigative letter published online on October 21 JAMA Pediatrics.

Parvati Singh, Ph.D., and Maria F. Gallo, Ph.D., both of Ohio State University in Columbus, examined national monthly trends in infant mortality after the Dobbs decision. The analysis included national monthly data on total live births and infant deaths from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiological Research (2018 to 2023).

The researchers found that time series analyzes indicate approximately 0.38 excess infant deaths per 1,000 live births overall and 0.13 deaths with birth defects per 1,000 live births in the relevant months thereafter. Dobbs. These findings yielded an estimated absolute increase of 7 percent in infant deaths overall (~247 additional deaths) and 10 percent in infant deaths with congenital anomalies (~204 additional deaths) in the relevant months thereafter. Dobbs. Not months after June 2022 (post-Dobbs months) showed lower than expected infant mortality.

“We await detailed infant mortality data, which will allow more rigorous analyzes to evaluate disparities in excess infant mortality due to the restrictiveness of state abortion laws,” the authors write.

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