(LifeSiteNews) — The mainstream media has once again fallen hook, line, and sinker for claims that abortion prohibitions lead to higher mortality rates for children or women, according to a respected social scientist and pro-life expert.
Two Ohio State University professors “analyzed monthly infant-mortality-rate data from the CDC between 2018 and 2023” and “purportedly found an increase in the infant mortality rate after the summer of 2022,” according to Michael New. He is a professor at Catholic University of America and a social scientist with the Charlotte Lozier Institute. He commented on a recent “research letter” in JAMA Pediatrics.
“Unsurprisingly, the authors were quick to blame this increase on the Dobbs decision,” New wrote at National Review. He pointed out that media outlets quickly picked up the story, including CNN and the Los Angeles Times.
“Infants died at higher rates after abortion bans in the U.S., research shows,” read a CNN headline. “The vast majority of those infants had congenital anomalies, or birth defects,” the article acknowledges.
New said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data is inconclusive on any long-term trends on infant mortality in the first place. The data show “between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, the U.S. infant mortality rate actually decreased by 2.4 percent,” according to New.
The research letter only looked at national level and not state-level data, the Catholic University of America professor pointed out in his analysis. Therefore, it is not possible to draw relationships between restrictions on the killing of preborn children and infant mortality.
There is also a moral and semantics point New made about claims “newly enacted pro-life laws” are contributing to “an increase in congenital conditions,” as he wrote it, summarizing the research.
Rather, New explained:
Instead, some pro-life laws are preventing unborn children from being aborted because of their medical condition. Many children in these circumstances were tragically dying before Dobbs. However, since they were aborted, they were not counted as infant deaths.
The research letter summary, and the professors in public comments, do acknowledge this may be the reason Texas appeared to have a higher infant mortality rate following its abortion restrictions. “The increase [in Texas] appeared pronounced among infants with congenital anomalies, potentially owing to frail fetuses more often being carried to term following the implementation of abortion restrictions,” the professors wrote.
Even this claim is questionable, as New has previously pointed out, commenting on the June 2024 study.
“Because of the TX Heartbeat Act, TX births increased by over 16,000 in 2022,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) at the time. “When the infant mortality rate (instead of infant deaths) is considered, the increase is less dramatic.”
In his recent National Review piece, New said the “mainstream media” has “worked overtime to find evidence of negative public-health trends,” since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.
He told LifeSiteNews in September that a study claiming to find abortion restrictions were linked to maternal mortality did not hold up under closer examination.
He told Jonathan Van Maren that “the Texas maternal mortality rate actually declined by 35 percent between 2021 and 2022,” according to the Gender Equity Policy Institute’s own claims. The think tank did not publish the full results but rather gave it to NBC News. The secrecy of the data is a “red flag,” according to New, who teaches research methods.
“In 2022, the Texas Heartbeat Act was in effect all year. During the summer of 2022, legislation took effect in Texas that protected all pre-born children,” New told LifeSiteNews. “In short, during the year with the strongest pro-life protections in place, the Texas maternal mortality rate fell by 254 percent.”
Claims of pro-life protections for preborn babies leading to adverse health outcomes have frequently been circulated in the pro-abortion mainstream media.
However, under closer examination, they often fall apart. This includes claims that Americans with chronic pain conditions would not be able to access medication and that two Georgia women died due to the state’s pro-life laws. In reality they died due to abortion drugs.
Pro-life laws are also not linked to “maternity care deserts” or doctor shortages, according to New’s colleagues at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.