People in States With Abortion Bans Are Twice as Likely To Die During Pregnancy
The 19th, April 23, 2025
Pregnant people living in states with abortion bans are almost twice as likely to die during pregnancy or soon after giving birth, a report released Wednesday found. The risk is greatest for Black women in states with bans, who are 3.3 times more likely to die than White women in those same states. The Gender Equity Policy Institute, a nonprofit research and policy organization that put out the report, found that pregnancy-related death rates have increased in states with abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned; meanwhile, death rates have declined in states that protect abortion access. The report found that pregnant Black women, White women and Latinas are all at greater risk of death in states with abortion bans than they would be if they lived in states that protect abortion rights. Health care providers have warned for years that abortion bans pose risks to pregnant patients’ lives. Though these laws have narrow exceptions if the abortion is necessary to save a pregnant person’s life, doctors have reported that their language is vague and confusing. As a result, many have said they have had to wait until a patient is approaching death before they can intervene, at which point it may be too late. Even before the end of Roe, many states with more restrictions on the procedure had higher pregnancy-related death rates, including Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. But the report suggests that the divides between states have only grown since the loss of federal abortion protections
Clinics Begin Closing as Trump Admin Continues Freeze on Family Planning Funds
POLITICO, April 22, 2025
Clinics around the country that provide contraception and other reproductive health services to low-income patients are running out of funds as they await word from the Trump administration on tens of millions of dollars in grants frozen last month. Dozens of medical providers from California to Maine, including nine Planned Parenthood affiliates, have struggled to stay afloat since more than $65 million dollars for the Title X family planning program was withheld on April 1 – a funding freeze the Trump administration said was aimed at enforcing executive orders on diversity and immigration. Federal officials gave the groups 10 days to submit detailed records showing they don’t discriminate in hiring or in patient care, but those who did so by the deadline said they have not received a response. Utah is one of seven states to lose all Title X funding, along with California, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri and Montana. The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents most Title X grantees, estimated that 846,000 patients will lose access to services if the funding isn’t restored. The Trump administration did not respond to questions about the status of the funds. Some impacted health providers are considering legal action. Others are pleading with their state legislatures and private donors to backfill the missing federal dollars. And some, having exhausted their emergency funds, are shutting their doors.
Ob/gyns in States With Abortion Bans Face Risks, but New Study Shows That Most Stayed After Dobbs
CNN, April 22, 2025
Doctors across the United States who provide obstetrics and gynecology care have been confronted with new restrictions and uncertainties – and sometimes significant legal risks – that continue to unfold in the three years since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion. But new research shows that ob/gyns didn’t immediately flee states with abortion bans, although decisions were highly personal and often required heavy moral calculations. The number of ob/gyns in states with abortion bans increased slightly in the months following the Dobbs decision in June 2022, according to a study published Monday in the JAMA Network Open medical journal. By September, there were about 8% more ob/gyns in states with bans than there were before the ruling – in line with changes seen in states where abortion remained legal. The number of ob/gyns increased just under 8% in states where abortion is protected and 10.5% in states where it is threatened, the study found. The study offers a glimpse into decisions providers made in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling, but the US abortion landscape has continued to evolve in the years since. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that medical residents are increasingly avoiding states with abortion bans; In 2023, the number of applicants to residency programs in states with near-total abortion bans declined by 4.2%, compared with a 0.6% drop in states where abortion remains legal. But interest in the field remains strong, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Tracking Abortion Clinic Violence Is More Difficult Than Ever Post-‘Dobbs‘
Rewire News Group, April 23, 2025
The abortion access landscape has become fluid and uncertain in the nearly three years since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade – and so too has tracking the threats to that access. That’s the main takeaway from the National Abortion Federation’s 2023/2024 Violence and Disruption report, which tracks violence and harassment against abortion providers and clinics. Rather than report out clinic violence incident rates as compared to prior years, this year’s interactive report, published today, compares the violence and disruption that NAF tracked in 2023 and 2024 to all the data they have tracked since 1977, when NAF first started tracking incidents their member clinics experienced. In addition to the long look back on threats and violence, NAF’s report features a “heat map” that demonstrates the states in which providers experienced the highest levels of threats or violence. The report also includes an audio storyteller map where viewers can hear directly from providers at clinics across the country about their experiences with anti-abortion violence and disruption. “Harassment and violence shouldn’t just be part of the job for abortion providers,” NAF Chief Program Officer Melissa Fowler said during a press conference. NAF recorded a higher number of obstruction incidents in 2024 than 2023—but it also represented a decline compared to previous years, which the report attributed as a likely result of post-abortion ban clinic closures. To read between the lines: Many of the sites that previously experienced the highest levels of activity are no longer operating.
These Women Couldn’t Get Life-Saving Care. Now They’re Changing the Law.
Ms. Magazine, April 22, 2025
A group of Texas women denied life-saving healthcare during their wanted pregnancies are feeling “cautiously optimistic” and “hopeful” after meeting with state legislators and urging changes to an abortion-related bill currently working its way through the legislature. After a morning (and frankly, years) of lobbying and pushing lawmakers and the public to consider the real-life impact of Texas’ extreme bans, the women said state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) pledged this week to propose a new draft of Senate Bill 31 (SB 31), or the “Life of the Mother Act,” clarifying that it does not revive a 1925 fetal personhood law and ensures pregnant women cannot be prosecuted – major concerns at the heart of the bill. “This is a small step towards where we need to be as a state,” said Kaitlyn Kash, a patient storyteller and former plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas, a case brought by 22 women and their doctors that sought to clarify the scope of Texas’ “medical emergency” exception under its state abortion bans. “The only thing that could have made my loss more painful was knowing that I could be personally prosecuted or my husband could be personally prosecuted. And so I am extremely grateful to the lawmakers for listening to our concerns about the 1925 language and for proposing these amendments.” Hughes and other lawmakers also agreed to amendments that aim to allow doctors to act quickly in medical emergencies, according to the women. The edits to the bill will not address abortions sought for fatal fetal anomalies. They also do not help Texans seeking abortions for reasons other than medical necessity – think: affordability, personal choice, gender expression, and so on.
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Note: The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
