Pro-life laws which came into force in Texas after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade appear to have saved the lives of at least 10,000 unborn babies, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers.
An analysis of birth records before and after the 2021 law came into force, thanks to the conservative majority Donald Trump secured during his first term in the White House, show it appears to have increased the number of births between April and December 2022 by three percent.
Abortions in the Lone Star State are restricted after six weeks, when fetal heartbeats can be detected, with exceptions for pregnancies that would jeopardize the mother’s physical health.
“Texas is really unique in that it is one of the states that had one of the higher abortion rates – and, because of the population size, a relatively large number of abortions,” said study co-author Suzanne Bell, of Johns Hopkins University.
“At first blush, seeing the number was higher than I might have anticipated or hoped it might be,” the assistant professor added, implying she would prefer to have seen fewer babies being born.
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