{"id":126691,"date":"2016-09-21T13:05:48","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T17:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=126691"},"modified":"2016-09-21T13:05:48","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T17:05:48","slug":"think-abortion-restrictions-increase-maternal-mortality-think-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/think-abortion-restrictions-increase-maternal-mortality-think-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Think abortion restrictions increase maternal mortality? Think again."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>The World Health Organization defines maternal mortality <a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/healthinfo\/statistics\/indmaternalmortality\/en\/\">as<\/a> \u201cthe death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.\u201d Abortion advocates say pro-life legislation leads to high maternal mortality rates &#8212; but the facts don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Poland, Ireland, and Malta ban most abortions, yet <a href=\"http:\/\/data.worldbank.org\/indicator\/SH.STA.MMRT\">all three<\/a> have better maternal mortality rates than the United States. Chile\u2019s rates\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.melisainstitute.org\/uploads\/1\/2\/3\/9\/12398427\/koch_2015_ilm_article.pdf\">kept falling<\/a> even after pro-life laws were enacted. Meanwhile, Mexican states with permissive abortion rules actually have\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/content\/5\/2\/e006013.full\"><i>higher<\/i><\/a> mortality rates than those with more restrictive ones.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, abortion supporters predicted that pro-life measures in Texas would endanger women. They opposed defunding Planned Parenthood (America\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2015\/jan\/1\/planned-parenthood-327k-abortions-fiscal-2014\/\">largest abortion chain<\/a>), as well as raising health and safety standards on abortion facilities (many <a href=\"\/news\/real-reason-why-abortion-centers-closing-texas\/\">shut down<\/a> rather than comply). Last month, <a href=\"http:\/\/d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net\/wp\/2016\/08\/MacDormanM.USMatMort.OBGYN_.2016.online.pdf\">a study<\/a> appeared to confirm those fears.<\/p>\n<p>Published in the <i>Obstetrics and Gynecology Medical Journal<\/i>, it claimed maternal mortality had doubled between 2011 and 2012. As a potential culprit, abortion advocates pointed to the pro-life measures listed above, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/pregnancy-related-deaths-are-inexcusably-high-in-the-us_us_57b601d8e4b0b51733a20d56\">arguing<\/a> abortion access is an \u201cimportant factor in maternal mortality.\u201d It\u2019s a convenient theory.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just not accurate.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ArticleAd1\"><!-- \/1011927\/LAN_300_by_250_top_article --><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1473179053567-0\" class=\"ArticleAd1a\"><script>\ngoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1473179053567-0'); });\n<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>First off, Live Action News\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"\/news\/author\/rebeccadowns\/\">Rebecca Downs<\/a> has discussed <a href=\"\/news\/pro-abortion-media-runs-with-false-claims-texas-maternal-mortality\/\">some issues<\/a> with the researcher\u2019s claims. But there\u2019s a more basic problem with blaming pro-life policies for any increase in maternal mortality between 2011 and 2012: at the time, they didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to litigation, Planned Parenthood\u2019s funding <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMsa1511902#t=article\">continued<\/a> until 2013. As for raising health and safety standards on abortion facilities, that law wasn\u2019t signed until 2013 either. And what did the maternal mortality rate do the year after that? Well&#8230;\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dshs.texas.gov\/chs\/vstat\/vs14\/t05.aspx\">it went down<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While the facts don\u2019t indict pro-lifers, many in the media and academia do, and they\u2019re happy to make up their own. This month, an NPR story <a href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/08\/27\/491613560\/rising-u-s-mortality-rate-for-mothers-is-highest-in-texas\">claimed<\/a> the maternal mortality rate doubled in Texas between 2011 <i>and 2014<\/i>. Recently, a friend told me how a professor cited it in her college class. That\u2019s discouraging, but it shouldn\u2019t hold us back.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/plannedparenthoodexposed.com\/\">Tell Congress<\/a> to redirect Planned Parenthood\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2013\/01\/08\/planned-parenthood-receives-record-amount-taxpayer-support\/\">half billion<\/a> dollar subsidy to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/getyourcare.org\/\">federally qualified health centers<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"\/news\/new-website-shows-women-have-more-choices-besides-planned-parenthood-for-low-cost-health-care\/\">community health centers<\/a>&#8211;places offering care to those with limited means. They\u2019re more accessible and offer services Planned Parenthood <a href=\"\/news\/mammosham-watch-the-viral-video-exposing-planned-parenthood-false-mammogram-claims\/\">won\u2019t<\/a>. Of course, the abortion movement will issue the same dark warnings as they did in Texas; their agenda doesn\u2019t seem to change.<\/p>\n<p>Neither should ours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Health Organization defines maternal mortality as \u201cthe death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.\u201d Abortion advocates say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":65868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Think abortion restrictions increase maternal mortality? 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