Get the Facts

THE STATE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES FACT SHEET

Abortion care is health care. Training and expertise are essential to save women’s lives and preserve fertility. Get the facts.

1. Women who miscarry or have unexpected medical complications often need medical intervention, including abortion.

• Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy. Abortion is frequently required to remove tissue that remains in the uterus to prevent fatal hemorrhage.

  • • Up to 20% of all pregnancies (1 million) and up to 10% of clinically recognized pregnancies end in miscarriage.10

    • Miscarriage rates are more common in very young (<20 y/o, 17%) and older women (>45 is 57%).11,12

    • Up to 20% of miscarriages (and up to 50% after 10 weeks) require a surgical intervention (up to 200,000 women).13 This is often not available, at least urgently, in banned states.

    • Miscarriages in abortion banned states have gotten much more dangerous, evidenced by higher rates of blood transfusions, and rates of sepsis.5–7

• Over 20,000 pregnancies end in stillbirth at ≥20 weeks’ gestation.10

• 1 and 1000 pregnant women are diagnosed with cancer.14 Many treatments cannot be given during pregnancy.

• The magnitude of the potential for death and loss of fertility from lack of access to abortion care just for miscarriage is as high or higher than from breast cancer. For context, 300,000 women are diagnosed and 40,000 die annually in the US.15

2. Criminalizing abortion increases maternal deaths and rates of admission for sepsis

• In states that have banned abortion, maternal mortality has risen.

  • • •  After Texas’s 2022 abortion ban, maternal mortality increased 56%, versus 11% in the rest of the U.S over the same period.3

• When abortion is a not part of health care, admissions for sepsis skyrocket.

  • • • In Texas, the rate of sepsis after miscarriage increased >50%.6

• Sepsis can lead to death, but also infertility.

• Legalization and decriminalization of abortion Argentina, a catholic country, was motivated by the tens of thousands of admissions for sepsis that could have been completely prevented with timely abortion care and the thousands of deaths of otherwise healthy young women and mothers with children.16

3. Decriminalizing and including abortion care as health care reduces maternal and infant mortality: it saves lives

• In countries where abortion is decriminalized, maternal and child death rates have declined. A few examples:

  • • •    US after Roe: The maternal mortality rate declined by 27% in only four years.17

      • Argentina: Abortion related death rates decreased by 53% after legalization.18,19

4. The cost of unsafe abortion is 10x higher than safe abortions20

5. Nearly 70% of Americans support access to abortion-a level of agreement rare in U.S. politics (similar to support for Medicare or universal background checks on gun purchases).21

6. Women who are the most vulnerable are disproportionately affected by laws that criminalize and ban abortion

• Resources are required to travel to states to get reproductive care.

• Black and Native American women are more likely to live states with an abortion bans.22

7. Abortion bans are creating maternal care deserts and worsening access to care

• Maternal health providers are leaving states with abortion bans. Idaho lost 22% of their OBGYN providers in the 15 months after their ban went into effect.23

• Trainees are less likely to apply to programs in banned states

  • • • 10.5% decrease in residency applications to programs in banned states.24

• Providers do not feel they are able to practice the standard of care.

  • • • (>75% of Texas OBGYNs, 60% fear legal action for standard of care medicine. 

8. Training in how to perform abortions is essential to save lives, but is now disappearing

• Universal training licenses would solve the training issue

• 40% of all OBGYN residents train in a state with an abortion ban26,27

• Trainees in abortion ban states cannot obtain out-of-state training. Universal training licenses would ensure access to learning essential skills to save women’s lives.

9.     Abortion regulation should not be a state-by-state issue. It Saves Lives.

• Maternal mortality rates vary 10-fold across states, and are 4x higher in black women28

• Women who become pregnant, wherever they live, should have a right to life.

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