Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Poor, Minorities, People With Higher-Risk Pregnancies Imperiled In Post-Roe World
ProPublica: In A Post-Roe America, Expect More Births In A Country Where Maternal Mortality Continues To Rise
If the U.S. Supreme Court does as its leaked draft opinion says and strikes down Roe v. Wade, researchers expect that in the following year, roughly 75,000 people who want, but can’t get, abortions will give birth instead. They’ll do so in a country where pregnancy and childbirth continue to become more dangerous. Government data released this year shows that U.S. maternal deaths increased significantly in the first year of the pandemic, going from 754 in 2019 to 861 in 2020, a 14% jump. The death rate for Black women was almost three times higher than that for white women. (Fields and Gallardo, 5/4)
NBC News: Biggest Health Risks Of Overturning Roe V. Wade Abortion Decision
Research suggests the bans and restrictions would have manifold effects on maternal health. For one, if more pregnant people can't get the abortions they seek, they'd shoulder the risk of the U.S.'s relatively high — and rising — rate of death from pregnancy-related causes, which is particularly elevated among people of color. "There are going to be women that will die from pregnancy because of this decision, period," said Dr. Amy Addante, an OBGYN in Illinois and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. In addition, pregnant people would face the risk of prosecution for seeking to end pregnancies in states where abortion is banned, and research has shown that unwanted pregnancies have many harmful long-term consequences for mothers, including a higher chance of financial hardship and a severe toll on mental health. (Bendix and Varinsky, 5/4)
AP: With Abortion In Jeopardy, Minority Women Have Most To Lose
When it comes to the effect on minority women, the numbers are unambiguous. In Mississippi, people of color comprise 44% of the population but 81% of women receiving abortions, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks health statistics. In Texas, they’re 59% of the population and 74% of those receiving abortions. The numbers in Alabama are 35% and 69%. In Louisiana, minorities represent 42% of the population, according to the state Health Department, and about 72% of those receiving abortions. “Abortion restrictions are racist,” said Cathy Torres, an organizing manager with Frontera Fund, a Texas organization that helps women pay for abortions. “They directly impact people of color, Black, brown, Indigenous people ... people who are trying to make ends meet.” (Wagster Pettus and Willingham, 5/4)
Fortune: Abortions Were Already Expensive. Now They're Likely To Get Even Pricier
While the implications of the Court’s decision are just now being digested, one thing is clear: Abortions will become increasingly expensive in the U.S.Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, an associate professor at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and research director for the University of California Global Health Institute’s Center of Expertise in Women’s Health, Gender, and Empowerment, told Fortune that a federal abortion ban would force women in many states to travel significant distances in order to find the reproductive care they need, greatly increasing the average cost for an abortion. (Daniel, 5/3)
Axios: The Women Getting Abortions In America As The Supreme Court Is Poised To Curtail Access
The number of U.S. women who get abortions has decreased dramatically in recent decades, with typical patients now tending to be in their 20s and living in blue states. Abortion access is likely to be drastically curtailed in red states should a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision hold, gutting the federal right to an abortion. But the profile of abortion patients has trended older since that right was established, and the vast majority of procedures tend to be early in pregnancies. In 2019, nearly 630,000 abortions were reported to the CDC, reflecting a rate of about 11.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years. (Owens, 5/4)
AP: US Abortion Trends Have Changed Since Landmark 1973 Ruling
The abortion landscape has changed in the United States since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. A leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision suggests a majority of justices support throwing out that ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide. The most comprehensive abortion data is collected by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also compiles data but not all states, including California, submit reports. (Tanner, 5/3)
