Did Texas’ Heartbeat Law increase infant mortality rates?

A transcription of the video, with source links and post-video notes, follows.

A new study purports to show an increase in infant mortality in Texas due to their Heartbeat Bill: their September 2021, approximately six week abortion ban. Specifically, the study found an excess of 216 infant deaths, or a 12.7% increase over what they would have expected. And they figured this out by comparing infant mortality rates* to other states who didn’t have similar restrictive abortion policies.

*post-video note: In fact the study found no statistically significant difference in Texas infant mortality rates. Infant mortality rate is calculated by dividing the number of infant deaths by the number of live births in a given time period. More infants died in Texas compared to recent years because more infants were born in Texas in that same time (because abortion bans decrease abortions), and some percent of babies die in infancy. Accounting for both infant deaths and total live births, Texas infant mortality rate hasn’t significantly changed. Rather than report a null result, researchers reported only infant mortality numbers without the context of increased birth rates.

Check out this headline: “Texas’ Anti-Abortion Heartbeat Law Aimed to Save Babies, but More Infants Died.” You would be forgiven if you read headlines like this and you thought that somehow — mysteriously, sinisterly — abortion bans were related to, in general, infants having an increased risk of death regardless of their health status.

This of course is not the case. If you read the study, they say very clearly what’s actually going on: Additional live births occurred in Texas in 2022 (because abortion bans, abortion restrictions, prevent people from getting abortions) and disproportionately, those live births included pregnancies at increased risk of infant mortality, particularly those involving congenital anomalies, which appear to be the largest source of the increase in infant mortality.

Texas abortion law does not include exceptions for fetal anomaly; this could be for mild anomalies like club foot or cleft palate, or for severe anomalies that can be life-limiting. This means that fetuses with disabilities who would have otherwise been aborted instead are carried to term. And some of them, because of their congenital anomalies, die in infancy.

Keep in mind that this is in the context of the Texas Heartbeat Law being credited with 9,800 children who would have been aborted, who were instead born alive. Apparently, of that group, 216 died in infancy, in part because of congenital anomalies.

Note the people so concerned about infant mortality (and allegedly about disability rights) don’t ever mention the number of children with congenital anomalies that would have been aborted and instead are born and go on to live — whether it’s two years, five years, ten years, the rest of their lives.

Note they also don’t talk about the number of children who are aborted due to the high false positive rates of certain prenatal diagnostic tests.

Very importantly, notice that repro justice folks almost never talk about the systemic, documented phenomenon of the medical community pressuring parents to abort when they receive an adverse prenatal diagnosis.

No. They’re not particularly concerned about those aspects of reproductive justice. They’re mostly just concerned about abortion.

[Read more – Parents Can Hear You, a collection of parents speaking up for our children whose lives abortion proponents devalue.]

If you appreciate our work and would like to help, one of the most effective ways to do so is to become a monthly donor. You can also give a one time donation here or volunteer with us here.