{"id":258797,"date":"2021-12-13T18:41:39","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T00:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=258797"},"modified":"2021-12-16T12:46:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T18:46:51","slug":"abortion-fix-maternal-infant-mortality-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-fix-maternal-infant-mortality-rates\/","title":{"rendered":"Killing children through abortion is not a fix for high maternal and infant mortality rates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the Supreme Court deliberates on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health<\/em><\/a> concerning Mississippi’s law restricting abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, abortion advocates are pointing to the state’s high maternal and infant mortality rates as reasons why abortion should not be restricted. But advocates fail to explain how the intentional killing of innocent human beings at any stage of life will not solve either of these problems.<\/p>\n

Mississippi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the United States. According to state data<\/a>, there were 26 pregnancy-associated deaths in the state in 2016. Eleven of those were related to pregnancy while 12 were caused by other factors such as car accidents. Three of the deaths had undetermined causes. This is down from 2013, when there were 42 pregnancy-associated deaths in the state \u2014 19 of which were from pregnancy-related causes.<\/p>\n

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Screenshot from Mississippi State Department of Health, Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report 2013-206<\/p><\/div>\n

Compared to the CDC data for maternal mortality across the nation, Mississippi’s rate is<\/em> high. The rate for the nation is about 20 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, while Mississippi’s data shows 26 pregnancy-associated deaths for every 100,000 births.<\/p>\n

In addition, Mississippi has the highest<\/em> infant mortality rate<\/a> in the nation with about nine deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019. While this number is down from 11 in 2005, there is still room for further improvement.<\/p>\n

These numbers are clearly problematic, and they aren’t problems that will be easily solved \u2014\u00a0but they definitely won’t be solved by abortion. Killing some<\/em> babies is not a valid solution for saving the lives of other<\/em> babies.<\/p>\n

Pro-abortion media outlets such as MSNBC<\/a> and Rewire<\/a> argue that because Mississippi has high maternal and infant mortality rates in addition to no equal pay law, a high teen pregnancy rate, the lowest child well-being ranking of all states, and the lowest average household income of all states with the third-highest rate of breadwinning mothers, abortion must be more<\/em> available in the state.<\/p>\n

But again, killing innocent human beings will not solve<\/em> any of these problems. Killing preborn babies will not<\/em> decrease the maternal mortality rate; saving a mother’s life does not require<\/a> the intentional killing of her preborn child.\u00a0Wider abortion access will not<\/em> create equal pay for women or raise the average household income. And abortion will not save the lives of newborns or ensure that children are well-fed.<\/p>\n

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