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CV NEWS FEED // Charlotte Lozier Institute Vice President Ingrid Skop refuted several pro-abortion accusations against Texas’ pro-life Heartbeat Law, clarifying in a Feb. 12 article that the law has had a predominantly positive effect on women and babies.
“Texas’ pro-life laws have been unfairly mischaracterized and maligned,” said Skop, who also serves as the institute’s director of medical affairs. “Pro-abortion motivations have prompted allegations which have been proven false or imply outcomes which cannot yet be determined.”
In her article, Skop responded to “the most notable” of the pro-abortion accusations against the 2021 law, which prohibits abortions after six weeks.
Pro-abortion media outlets have claimed that Texas’ pro-life protections hinder doctors from providing necessary medical care in pregnancy emergencies. In reality, Skop explained, Texas law explicitly permits physicians to deliver life-saving care, including abortions when necessary, without requiring an imminent risk of death. The Texas Supreme Court and Medical Board have reiterated that doctors have the discretion to make decisions based on sound medical judgment.
Despite tragic maternal deaths reported in the media, these incidents have often resulted from medical mismanagement rather than legal restrictions, according to Skop.
“Fearmongering and misrepresentation surrounding pro-life laws are unlikely to impact the physician workforce if Texas medical organizations take care to make sure physicians understand how the laws should be interpreted in their practice, ensuring that Texas physicians continue to provide quality medical care as allowed by state laws,” Skop said.
Pro-abortion advocates also argue that pro-life laws will worsen maternal mortality rates. However, maternal mortality encompasses deaths during pregnancy and up to a year postpartum, often influenced by factors such as substance abuse, mental health issues, and pre-existing conditions.
>> CDC: Maternal mortality rate falls year after states pass pro-life legislation <<
Texas already faced a high maternal mortality rate before the Dobbs decision, primarily due to unrelated issues. Notably, national maternal mortality rates have improved significantly from 2021 to 2023, contradicting predictions that pro-life laws would lead to adverse outcomes.
“Extensive data deficiencies, however, cause extreme difficulty in the detection of deaths related to early pregnancy events such as induced abortion, contributing to the unproven narrative that abortion is safer than childbirth (a narrative contradicted by better-quality data from other countries),” Skop stated. “Abortion is associated with many risk factors for maternal mortality, and there are many reasons to suspect that limiting the abortion exposure of American women may improve, rather than worsen, maternal mortality.”
Claims have emerged that connect restrictions on abortions to higher suicide rates among women of reproductive age, largely based on data from 1974 to 2016. These assertions suggest that “even minimal” abortion restrictions can lead to increased suicide rates.
However, according to Skop, “it stretches credibility” to say that minimal regulations which cause delays, such as requiring a counseling session before the abortion procedure, are likely to drive non-pregnant women to suicide.
“There certainly may be small spikes in anxiety among women in pro-life states because media disinformation may be stoking unnecessary fears about pro-life laws and maternal mortality, but these fears are not an effect of pro-life laws themselves, because understood correctly, abortion limits safeguard women,” Skop clarified. “Numerous studies have documented improved mental health outcomes when women give birth to their children instead of choosing abortion.”
Opponents of pro-life laws have also claimed a rise in infant mortality, pointing to a 12.9% increase in deaths in Texas after the Heartbeat Act. However, Texas’ overall infant mortality rate has overall remained consistent, with 2022 figures comparable to those observed between 2012 and 2020, and still lower than in some states with minimal abortion restrictions.
Additionally, according to Skop, the rise in death rates is largely due to more infants with life-limiting conditions being born and passing away within a year of their birth, not due to pro-life laws themselves.
“Killing babies with life-limiting fetal conditions before they have a chance to be born and counted in the statistics is hardly a compelling, or ethical, way to address the issue of prenatally diagnosed severe anomalies and infant mortality,” Skop said.
The evidence also contradicts the popular narrative that Texas’ pro-life laws have not saved unborn lives. In reality, following the implementation of the Heartbeat Act, abortion numbers in Texas dropped by 50% while births increased.
Although some women sought abortions out of state or through pills, evidence shows that not all who would have previously obtained an abortion were able to do so. Texas’ birth rate actually rose in 2022, even as other states experienced declines.
Lastly, claims that pro-life protections are driving obstetricians from Texas and worsening maternity care deserts lack supporting data. Medical school enrollment and the establishment of new OB-GYN residency programs in pro-life states have increased. Enrollment in MD-granting schools rose nearly 7% in the past four years, and 13 new OB-GYN residency programs were accredited in pro-life states, with most residency slots filled.
