The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the United States saw its first jump in infant mortality in twenty years. Alabama is among nineteen states that a report for the CDC says saw its rate of infant death increase significantly. Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio were also on that list.
The latest edition of the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Report said that in 2022, 20,577 infant deaths were reported in the United States. That’s an increase of 3% from 2021. The infant mortality rate was 5.61 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022, an increase of 3% from the 2021 rate of 5.44. The CDC says Alabama’s infant mortality rate was in the range of 6 to 7 deaths per 1,000, which equaled the rates found in Tennessee, Missouri, and North and South Carolina, among other States. Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana were southern States where the number of infant deaths was 7 to 8 per 1,000.
There’s been academic study and coverage in the press that more stringent laws limiting abortion access may be linked to higher levels of infant mortality. A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in June studied a possible link between anti-abortion legislation in Texas, and the infant mortality rate there. The study concluded…
“…Texas’ 2021 ban on abortion in early pregnancy was associated with unexpected increases in infant and neonatal deaths in Texas between 2021 and 2022. Congenital anomalies, which are the leading cause of infant death, also increased in Texas but not the rest of the US. Although replication and further analyses are needed to understand the mechanisms behind these findings, the results suggest that restrictive abortion policies may have important unintended consequences in terms of trauma to families and medical cost as a result of increases in infant mortality. These findings are particularly relevant given the recent Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization US Supreme Court decision and subsequent rollbacks of reproductive rights in many US states.”
