Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the change would pose a profound threat to maternal health in the U.S., experts said.
A leaked draft opinion published Monday by Politico suggests that the court is likely to reverse the seminal ruling that enshrined the constitutional right to abortion nearly 50 years ago. The court confirmed the authenticity of the draft; the final decision isn’t expected until late June or early July.
If Roe is overturned, nearly two dozen states are likely to ban abortions or severely restrict access. Thirteen have “trigger laws” that would ban abortion almost immediately, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Center for Reproductive Rights.
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.
Experts concerned about a rise in maternal deaths
The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country. In total, about 700 women die every year of pregnancy-related complications in the U.S., and about 3 in 5 of those deaths are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“One of the things that I worry about the most is that we are going to see an increase in maternal deaths in this country” if Roe is…
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