Friday, September 25, 2026

Pro-Life... Bull!

In pro-life states, mother and baby deaths are increasing! Because of these laws that men are passing so they can get more votes.
 

They are not pro-life, but pro-votes.
ProPublica
by Andrea Suozzo and Agnel Philip
September 9, 2026
 
 
Reporting Highlights
  •     Increase in Deaths: ProPublica’s analysis of CDC data found that almost 200 women died after an ectopic pregnancy from 2020 to 2025, compared with about 100 in the previous six years. 
  •     Delays in Care: Abortion bans make exceptions for ectopic pregnancies, but getting a definitive diagnosis can mean waiting days or even weeks, while the risk of rupture and death rises.
  •     Federal Inaction: There’s been no public response to the increase in deaths. The Department of Health and Human Services has drastically cut maternal health staffers and grant funding.
The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years, a ProPublica analysis found. The mounting deaths in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have drawn little scrutiny or response.
Of course, there has been no response from the HHS & CDC; that would be admitting to the deaths.
To treat an ectopic pregnancy, which is almost never viable, doctors must terminate it. But lawsuits and federal complaints have alleged that some medical providers are hesitating or flat-out refusing to do that in states where they face criminal penalties for performing an abortion. Patients described their terror. 

“I genuinely thought I was going to die,” said Kyleigh Thurman, whose right fallopian tube ruptured after she struggled to get ectopic care in Texas in 2023.

“There were a few times I asked my husband if I was going to die,” Leitaea Lowrimore of Oklahoma said in a lawsuit after being denied treatment for an ectopic pregnancy at multiple hospitals in February. “I kept thinking about our kids.”
At times like those, doctors shouldn't have to consult lawyers! The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) wrote:
 
 
Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, and Oklahoma are among the poorest-performing states overall for women’s health care access, quality, and outcomes, while Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island rank at the top, according to a new state-by-state scorecard. The scorecard examining women's health was released today by the Commonwealth Fund and revealed disparities in women’s health and reproductive care across the United States.1

The findings raise concerns over the state of women’s health care in the US and the ripple effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which has significantly altered access to critical reproductive health care services.

“The US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade in June 2022 has significantly altered both access to reproductive health care services and how providers are able to treat pregnancy complications in the 21 states that ban or restrict abortion access," the report stated.
 
[...]
 
 Using the latest available data, the results demonstrate significant disparities between states in reproductive care and women’s health, as well as deepening racial and ethnic gaps in health outcomes, with stark inequities in avoidable deaths and access to essential health services. The findings suggest these gaps could widen further, especially for women of color and those with low incomes in states with restricted access to comprehensive reproductive health care.
Doctors are afraid! When they need to make life-or-death decisions, they don't need the state second-guessing them! When politicians make medical decisions, people die.
 
 
 The increased number of state-level abortion restrictions in the U.S. was associated with a parallel increase in maternal deaths between 2005 and 2023, according to new research presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2026 Pregnancy Meeting™. Researchers found that states with five or more different abortion restrictions had higher rates of maternal deaths from any cause, cardiovascular disease, and violence than those states with fewer restrictions. 

“Abortion is a medically safe procedure, and restricting access to it has real consequences,” said Marie C. Anderson, MD, a resident in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City, who led the study.  
 
“Our research adds to a growing body of literature confirming the profound negative impact these restrictions are having on maternal health in this country,” said co-researcher Lisa M. Nathan, MD, Chief of Obstetrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. 
But death doesn't mean anything to Republicans as they kowtow to Christian nationalists! A report by the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) said:
 Results. Among the 14 states with abortion bans, there was some evidence of a potential 9.2% (95% credible interval [CI] = −1.6, 20.7) increase in the number of pregnancy-associated deaths above expectation, equivalent to 68 (95% CI = −13, 147) excess deaths; the rate was also higher than expected, with 3.3 (95% CI = −2.6, 9.0) additional deaths per 100 000 live births. Relative changes in pregnancy-related mortality were similar in magnitude but had greater uncertainty. There was no detectable increase in maternal mortality.

Conclusions. Abortion bans may be associated with an increase in pregnancy-associated and pregnancy-related mortality, although data limitations and chance variation in these rare outcomes constrain the certainty of these and other findings. (Am J Public Health. 2026;116(6):819–828. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308465)
And even if these anti-abortion laws are repealed, the damage they have done will take years to repair. Clinician.com writes;
Abortion Bans Lead Physicians, Nurses to Avoid Certain States
August 1, 2023

Medical students, residents, and practicing OB/GYNs are saying they do not want to train and practice in states with extreme abortion bans, including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and others. The authors of a recent study found that four in five physicians and trainees preferred to avoid working in states with abortion bans.1

“Our main findings were that among a very large sample of physicians and trainees on social media — over 2,000 — more than 80% preferred to avoid training and practicing in a state with an abortion ban,” says Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, study co-author and a professor of medicine and dean for medical education in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

The preference was consistent regardless of specialty. Physicians said they wanted to improve access to care for patients but also cited personal family health reasons for their preference for states with safe and legal abortion care, Arora notes.
They are creating OB/GYN deserts that will take years to heal, and they know it. They read the same reports, they know what is happening, but they just don't care... period. They want the votes from their evangelical Christian base.

Stop and think for a moment. Now you are a medical student who is looking for a place of residency—are you going to go to a hospital in a state that bans abortions and fail to get a complete education?

The same is true after graduation... would you want to practice in a state where you can get arrested because of treatment for an ectopic pregnancy?

Don't you think that Republicans know all this? They put votes above women's lives.

If they were really "pro-life," they wouldn't reduce spending for WIC, SNAP, school meals, and Head Start. If they were really "pro-life," they would support programs like those instead of reducing their funding! 

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