Unintended Consequences of the Texas 'Heartbeat' Law

[George K]

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/unintended-consequences-texas-heartbeat-law-2024a1000bph?ecd=wnl_tp10_daily_240629_MSCPEDIT_etid6631265&uac=22422FR&impID=6631265

What you are seeing is neonatal (that's within 28 days of birth) and infant (within 1 year of birth) mortality rates over time in Texas.

There's a pretty clear increase after the law went into effect.

Putting some numbers to it, in 2022, the infant mortality rate increased by 12.9% in Texas, while it increased by 1.8% in the rest of the United States. The neonatal mortality rate went up by 10.4% in Texas and by 1.6% in the rest of the United States.

[Horace]

so they're delivering babies that they know will be at high risk of dying soon, and without the law, those babies would have been aborted?

[George K]

@Horace said in Unintended Consequences of the Texas 'Heartbeat' Law:

without the law, those babies would have been aborted?

THat's the way I read it.

[Doctor Phibes]

It might be unintended, but is it unexpected?

[LuFins Dad]

@George-K said in Unintended Consequences of the Texas 'Heartbeat' Law:

@Horace said in Unintended Consequences of the Texas 'Heartbeat' Law:

without the law, those babies would have been aborted?

THat's the way I read it.

So there can be a higher infant mortality rate, but with more children born healthy overall.

[LuFins Dad]

It’s like saying legalizing fentanyl helped drop the crime rate dramatically.

[blondie]

Up here in Canada, neonatal beds, staff, resources are limited. There’s a continual push to discharge prems earlier and earlier to make space/adjust staffing for complex admissions. Even in your U.S. system, with your huge units, teams and technology, I can’t help but wonder if states such as Texas now have to prioritize more of these genetic/congenital/complex births (those who may have been aborted) as NICU admissions and discharge/transfer out other babes sooner. This taxes hospital systems, and most importantly, it increases stressors for all families with neonates in NICUs.